The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $1 billion ahead of the Wednesday, Aug. 12 drawing, turning a $2 ticket into a shot at one of the biggest prizes in the game’s history. The next drawing is set for 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, and that is the number drawing attention from players in Michigan and elsewhere.
How much is a Powerball ticket? It costs $2 to play, with Power Play available for an extra $1 per play to multiply non-jackpot prizes by two, three, four, five or 10 times. The advertised jackpot is $1 billion, but the cash option is $433.1 million, a reminder that the headline number and the lump-sum payout are not the same thing.
The prize swelled after no one matched all the numbers in the Monday drawing, when the jackpot stood at $929 million. The winning numbers were 6, 37, 54, 55 and 64, with Power Ball 10 and Power Play 3x. One ticket in Tennessee matched five numbers and the Power Play to win $2 million, while two tickets in California and Maryland matched five numbers for $1 million each.
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m., broadcast live from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee, Florida, and streamed on Powerball.com. In Michigan, in-store and online ticket sales are available until 9:58 p.m. on the night of the draw, giving players just under an hour before the numbers are picked.
The climb to $1 billion also clears up an earlier estimate that put the next drawing at at least $975 million or $422 million in cash. The higher figure reflects the way the jackpot keeps rolling over when no one wins; Wednesday’s drawing will be the 44th since the prize was last claimed on May 2, when two tickets purchased in Florida and Texas split a $20 million jackpot.
That run has already produced its own streak of near misses and smaller winners. Since the jackpot run began May 4, Michigan Lottery players have won more than $7.2 million in prizes, including three $1 million prizes, even as the top prize stayed out of reach. The overall odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, which is why the draw keeps growing until someone matches every number.
For Michigan players, the timing matters as much as the size of the prize. The next chance comes Wednesday night, and if nobody hits it then, the billion-dollar total will push on again, with the same $2 ticket and the same long odds waiting for the next round.
