The Powerball jackpot is up to $1.9 billion, with no winners yet. How much would the winner get after taxes, and does buying more tickets help your odds?
Monday night’s estimated $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot is nearly $400 million larger than the previous record jackpot and will keep growing until someone finally wins the prize.
The jackpot started at $20 million back on Aug. 6 and over three winless months has grown to be 95 times as large. Put another way, it’s a crazy amount of money.
Those who spend $2 on a Powerball ticket might wonder if something is wrong when 40 drawings pass without a jackpot winner, but this is how the game is designed. With odds of 1 in 292 million, that means it’s unlikely anyone will win the prize until a growing jackpot attracts more players. And more ticket sales mean the lottery can raise more money for public programs, which is the point of the state lotteries. Still, it has been an awful long time without a jackpot, and if there isn’t a winner Monday night, a new record will have been reached: 41 draws without anyone matching all six numbers.
