Powerball jackpot reaches $900m – the third highest total of all time | US News
The jackpot for the US Powerball has hit an estimated $900m (£688m) – the third highest in the lottery’s 30-year history.
The huge total was raised – from $875m (£668m) – after no ticket matched the winning combination in Saturday night’s draw.
The Powerball jackpot was last won on 19 April for a top prize of nearly $253m (£193m), but since then, no one has claimed the grand prize in the past 37 consecutive draws.
Monday’s prize is the third-highest jackpot since Powerball launched in the US in 1992.
Powerball’s largest jackpot – a whopping $2.04bn (£1.76bn) – was won in November last year, beating the previous highest total of $1.6bn (£1.3bn) in 2016.
The game’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes that draw more players, from across 45 states in the US, as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
By comparison, the largest UK lottery was a £195m win on the EuroMillions jackpot in July last year.
While there was no jackpot winner on Saturday, Powerball said three tickets that matched all five white balls are eligible to claim $1m (£763m) prizes, including two in Texas and one in Colorado.
Ticket buyers for Monday’s draw have a chance at either $900m (£688m) paid out in yearly increments or a $465.1m (£355m), one-time lump sum before taxes.
Nearly all winners opt for the cash lump sum.
