POWERBALL® Jackpot RAISED to $500 Million for New Year’s Day Drawing
For Immediate Release
Dec. 30, 2021
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Anna Domoto
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POWERBALL® Jackpot RAISED to $500 Million for New Year’s Day Drawing
JOHNSTON, Iowa – The Powerball® jackpot continues to climb ahead of the New Year’s Day drawing. Game leaders increased the jackpot estimate today from $483 million to $500 million ($355.9 million cash value) for the Saturday, Jan. 1 drawing. This will be Powerball’s first drawing on New Year’s Day in two years.
“Ticket sales have been strong through the holidays, and we anticipate the majority of ticket purchases for the next drawing will happen on New Year’s Day,” said May Scheve Reardon, Powerball Product Group Chair and Missouri Lottery Executive Director. “A jackpot of this size is great way to start the New Year, but please remember to play responsibly.”
No ticket matched all six numbers drawn in last Wednesday’s drawing – the final Powerball drawing of 2021. However, game leaders are reminding players to check their tickets for one of the nine ways to win. Wednesday’s drawing produced one winning Match 5 ticket worth $1 million in Georgia. There were also two winning Double Play® tickets worth $500,000 each that were sold in Michigan and Puerto Rico.
The Powerball jackpot was last hit in California in the Oct. 4, 2021 drawing when a single ticket won a massive $699.8 million grand prize. That jackpot ranked as the 5th largest in Powerball history and the 7th largest in U.S. lottery history. Since then, there have been 37 drawings in a row without a jackpot winner.
In addition to the regularly scheduled drawing on Saturday, Powerball will also hold a special $1 million drawing just after midnight EST on January 1 to cap off a national Powerball promotion called the POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year®. The drawing will be broadcast live on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022” on ABC. The $1 million prize will be awarded to one of five finalists who entered the promotion through their local lottery.
It’s been a big year for Powerball. On August 23, 2021, Powerball launched a new Monday drawing, which expanded the weekly lineup of Powerball drawings to three nights a week: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. A new add-on feature called Double Play® was also launched in 13 U.S. lottery jurisdictions. Powerball tickets that include Double Play for an additional $1 per play are eligible to win prizes in both the Powerball drawing and a separate Double Play drawing. Instead of a rolling jackpot, Double Play offers a $10 million top cash prize.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. 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 online at Powerball.com.
Jackpot winners may choose to receive their prize as an annuity, paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum payment. Both advertised prize options are prior to federal and jurisdictional taxes. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
To date, Powerball holds the world record for largest jackpot set in 2016. The record $1.586 billion jackpot was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
2021 Powerball Jackpots
January 20 – $731.1 million – MD
January 23 – $23.2 million – NJ
January 30 – $33.2 million – NJ
March 27 – $235.4 million – FL
June 5 – $285.6 million – FL
October 4 – $699.8 million – CA
Top 10 Powerball Jackpots
- $1.586 Billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – CA, FL, TN
- $768.4 Million – March 27, 2019 – WI
- $758.7 Million – Aug. 23, 2017 – MA
- $731.1 Million – Jan. 20, 2021 – MD
- $699.8 Million – Oct. 4, 2021 – CA
- $687.8 Million – Oct. 27, 2018 – IA, NY
- $590.5 Million – May 18, 2013 – FL
- $587.5 Million – Nov. 28, 2012 – AZ, MO
- $564.1 Million – Feb. 11, 2015 – NC, PR, TX
- $559.7 Million – Jan. 6, 2018 – NH
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