Powerball Jackpot Soars to $685 Million With No Winner Yet

The Powerball jackpot continues to ascend, reaching new heights this Christmas Day as no lucky players were able to secure the winning numbers from the draw held on Monday, Dec. 25.

The recent draw saw the numbers 5, 12, 20, 24, and 29 being drawn, with 4 as the bonus ball. These didn’t bring any winners, paving the way for the jackpot to soar from $638 million to a staggering $385 million, boasting a cash payout of $344.7 million.

The stakes have been intensifying since October when a player from California hit a whopping $1.76 billion windfall, marking it as the second-largest prize in the history of Powerball.

According to Powerball, only three previous jackpots have ever been won on Christmas day, the most recent in 2013 for $71.5 million.

For those who are holding on to their tickets, here’s what you need to keep in mind about upcoming Powerball draws. The Powerball lottery organizes draws three times a week — every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, at 10:59 p.m. ET. In keeping with this ritual, the next Powerball drawing is slated for 10:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 27.

How To Play Powerball

The Powerball ticket comes at a minimal cost of $2 per play. Participant needs to pick five numbers from a lot of 1 to 69 for the white balls, followed by one number from a range of 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.

Either you can opt for your lucky numbers or trust the lottery terminal to select numbers at random. There are nine possible winning combinations:

• 5 white balls + 1 red Powerball = Grand prize.
• 5 white balls = $1 million.
• 4 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $50,000.
• 4 white balls = $100.
• 3 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $100.
• 3 white balls = $7.
• 2 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $7.
• 1 white ball + 1 red Powerball = $4.
• 1 red Powerball = $4.

Apart from this, you can enhance your winnings by two, three, four, five, and even 10 times via the Power Play for an additional $1 per play. This option is available for non-jackpot wins up to 10 times when the jackpot is $150 million or less.

All prizes are predetermined cash amounts, except for the grand prize. In California, the prize payout amounts are influenced by the sales and the number of winners.

The odds of winning the grand Powerball jackpot are one in 292,201,338. The probability for the smallest prize, $4 for one red Powerball, stands at one in 38.32. As per Powerball, the overall likelihood of winning any prize is one in 24.87, considering a $2 play and rounded to two decimal places.