If a winner takes the prize in one lump sum, it will have a cash value of about US$452.3 million (NZ$756.5 million). Photo: AFP/Giorgio Viera
American lottery players trying to beat Powerball's long odds will know on Saturday night (US time) whether they have scored the winning ticket and a whopping US$935 million (NZ$1.6 billion) jackpot.
The prize, now the fifth-largest in the history of the game according to lottery officials, has been growing steadily since the last Powerball winner hit the jackpot on New Year's Day 2024.
A win at the Saturday drawing would break a string of 37 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.
Should a winner choose to accept it in a single lump sum, the prize carries a cash value of about US$452.3 million (NZ$756.5 million), lottery officials said.
The purse at stake on Saturday was still below the over US$1.1 billion jackpot won in another lottery's drawing, the Mega Million, and well below the largest single lottery prize total in US history.
That came in November 2022 when a lone ticket holder in California won a US$2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.
To win the lottery, the winner or winners must match the correct six numbers on a $2 ticket. Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
To win the Powerball jackpot, players need to overcome steep odds, listed as one in 292.2 million by lottery officials.
The drawing will be held on Saturday night at 10.59 pm Eastern Time (3.59pm Sunday NZT).
- Reuters