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What are the odds you win the lottery?
What are the odds you win the lottery? You're more likely to be struck by lightning.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot has soared to a whopping $1.7 billion after no one hit the jackpot Wednesday night.
The $1.7 billion jackpot is for winners who choose to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game's cash option, which for this drawing would be an estimated $770.3 million, before taxes.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is the third-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, behind the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won on Nov. 7, 2022, and the $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot won on Oct. 11, 2023. Both prizes were won in California.
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Saturday’s drawing will be the 42nd since the Powerball jackpot was last won on May 31, 2025, in California, setting the record for the most consecutive drawings without a big winner. Previously, the record stood at 41 drawings, until someone hit the $1.3 billion jackpot in Oregon on April 6, 2024.
Wednesday Powerball numbers
The numbers drawn Sept. 3 were 3, 16, 29, 61, 69 and the red Powerball 22. The Power Play multiplier was 2x.
Powerball says 11 tickets matched all five white balls to win $1 million prizes. Those tickets were sold in California (2), Colorado, Florida, Georgia (2), Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Four tickets matched all five white balls and increased their winnings to $2 million, by including the Power Play option for $1 more at purchase. Those tickets were sold in Michigan, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming.
There were also 117 tickets that won $50,000 prizes and 36 tickets that won $100,000 prizes.
How Powerball works
The backstory:
Powerball tickets are $2 per game. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
RELATED: Texas lottery winner on delays in $83M prize payout: 'I've lost a lot of faith'
Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. Powerball drawings are also live streamed on Powerball.com.
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The Source: This report includes information from Powerball and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting.