Powerball breaks world record with $1.6 billion jackpot

The US Powerball lottery jackpot has reached $1.6 billion, making it the biggest jackpot in the world, officials say. The next draw is Saturday night.

The jackpot for the upcoming draw was originally estimated at $1.5 billion, but ticket sales added an additional $100 million, pushing it to $1.6 billion. Cash value increased to $782.4 million.

“There’s a lot of anticipation and excitement heading into Saturday’s draw. We want to remind players that it only takes one ticket to win. Play responsibly.”

The Powerball jackpot was last hit on August 3rd, when someone from Pennsylvania won $206.9 million. Since then, there have been 39 consecutive Powerball draws in which no one won the grand prize.

Several people came close to winning the jackpot in Wednesday’s draw. The lottery resulted in 19 tickets matching 5 of his 6 numbers, winning $1 million. Three of them, her, paid $1 extra for the power play, doubling his winnings to her $2 million.

Powerball tickets are sold in all 45 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

The jackpot is paid out in 30 installments over 29 years, but the winner can choose a small prize (cash value) that pays out immediately. Both prizes are subject to federal and local taxes.

Saturday’s jackpot of $1.6 billion will be the largest jackpot in world history. The previous record was his $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016, where the prize was split between his three winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.