The sixth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history — $1.5 billion — will be at stake in Saturday’s Powerball drawing after the record 45th drawing without a ticket with all six numbers being drawn.
A ticket with all six numbers hasn’t been sold since Sept. 6, when one ticket each with all six numbers was sold in Missouri and Texas when the jackpot had reached $1.787 billion, the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history.
Saturday’s jackpot is the fourth-largest in the history of the Powerball game which began in 1992. There have been two larger jackpots for the Mega Millions game, which began in 1996 as The Big Game and was given the new name Mega Millions in 2002.
If a player wins Saturday’s jackpot, they will have the choice between an annuitized prize estimated at $1.5 billion or a lump sum payment estimated at $686.5 million. Both prize options are before taxes.
If the winner selects the annuity option, they will receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 24.9.
Buying tickets at a location where tickets with large jackpots have been sold in the past will not increase a player’s chance of winning the jackpot, according to USC mathematics professor Ken Alexander.
“The chance that a given place will sell a winning lottery ticket is just related to how many tickets they sell,” Alexander told City News Service.
However, players wanting a better chance of avoiding sharing the jackpot should choose numbers that aren’t selected as often, Alexander said.
Lottery players frequently choose the date of their birthdays as one of their numbers, so numbers higher than 31 would be played less, Alexander said.
The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.