The dream of becoming the next billionaire in the United States will be on Saturday night, with ticket sales soaring across the country ahead of Labor Day weekend paintings.
Game officials increased their jackpots from $950 million on Friday morning after reviewing national ticket sales. The winner can choose $453.1 million in cash payment before tax.
“We brought extra excitement to Labor Day weekend, a Powerball jackpot that climbed to a billion dollars!” Matt Strawn, chairman of the Powerball product group and CEO of Iowa Lottery, said in a press release.
Powerball tickets are piled up for playing in a store in Augf Los Angeles. 27, 2025.
Allison Dinner/EPA via Shutterstock
The game has never seen a grand prize winner since a California player won $204.5 million since May 31. During this 39-drawn streak, the game created $62 million in winners and 608 tickets worth $50,000 or more.
Wednesday's painting contest saw six tickets, all five white balls – 9, 12, 22, 41 and 61 – Red Powerball 25, each winning $1 million or more.
Winners of Saturday’s Grand Prix can choose between annual payments or one-time payments. Annuity option offers an immediate payment, followed by 29 annual payments, an increase of 5% per year.
Powerball tickets are priced at $2 per game and are for sale in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of winning a jackpot is one in 292.2 million, and the total number of winning any prize is 1 out of 24.9.
Powerball notes that since its first painting in 1992, the game has created more than $36 billion for good reasons why American lottery supports it. According to Powerball, more than half of ticket sales proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where tickets are sold.
The current grand prize ranks sixth among the largest prizes in Powerball. The record is $2.04 billion, won by a California player in November 2022, followed by a $1.765 billion prize in California in October 2023.
Other notable grand prizes include $1.586 billion in votes allocated among winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016, 1.326 billion won in Oregon in April 2024, and $1.08 billion announced in California in July 2023.
Saturday’s paintings will be broadcast live at 10:59 PM EST at the Florida Lottery Drawing Studio in Tallahassee and will be played on Powerball’s website.