The 16th-largest lottery jackpot in American history will be at stake in Saturday evening’s Powerball drawing, $856 million, after 41 consecutive drawings without a ticket with all six numbers sold.
Players in the 45 states the game is played in, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands have had a new set of competitors for this jackpot since July 21 when the United Kingdom National Lottery began ticket sales.
With players from Great Britain, Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales participating, the expanded player base is expected to help the jackpot grow more quickly, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.
The jackpot is the eighth-largest in the history of the Powerball game, which has been played since 1992. There have been eight larger Mega Millions jackpots.
Ticket sales for Saturday’s drawing end at 7 p.m. The drawing is set for 7:59 p.m.