Powerball jackpot for Christmas Eve drawing rises to about $1.7 billion, the 4th largest in U.S. lottery history

MGN

Santa might have a gigantic present in his bag on Christmas Eve, when the estimated jackpot for that night’s drawing will be an estimated $1.7 billion — the fourth largest in Powerball and U.S. lottery history.

That’s because no tickets came up winners of Monday night’s jackpot of an estimated $1.6 billion jackpot.

The winning numbers for that one were 3, 18, 36, 41 and 54, with a Powerball of 7.

Wednesday night’s grand prize would have an estimated lump sum cash value of $781.3 million.

The Powerball jackpot has been won once on Christmas Eve, in 2011, and four times on Christmas Day, the game says. Powerball started in 1992.

Wednesday’s drawing will be the 47th in the current jackpot run, a record for the most in a Powerball jackpot cycle, the game says.

To win the jackpot, a ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball pulled during a drawing. A single jackpot winner would have the choice of a lump sum payment or a payout via an annuity that would consist of one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year. Both the lump sum cash estimate and the annuity estimate are before taxes.

The last time a Powerball jackpot was hit was on Sept. 6 in Missouri and Texas, when two tickets split a $1.787 billion top prize.

This is only the second time in the game’s history with back-to-back jackpots exceeding $1 billion, Powerball says.

In 2022, a single ticket sold in Altadena, California, claimed a $2.04 billion jackpot, the largest in both Powerball and lottery history. The first Powerball drawing was in 1992.

The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball. Lottery jackpots have exploded in size over the last decade, while the odds of winning have gotten even slimmer.

Tickets cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 11 p.m. ET.