The Powerball lottery drawing on Saturday, October 15, 2022 produced a single jackpot winning ticket worth an advertised $1.6 billion. This makes it the largest lottery jackpot in world history. The winning ticket was sold in California.
The final jackpot was lower than the estimated $1.9 billion due to lower than expected ticket sales, but it still easily surpasses the previous record of $1.586 billion shared by three winning tickets in January 2016.
How the Jackpot Reached a Record Level
The Powerball jackpot started at $20 million for the August 6 drawing and rolled over 39 times without a winner before reaching the record $1.6 billion amount. This long roll over streak allowed the jackpot to grow steadily as more players bought tickets trying to win the huge prize.
Powerball jackpots grow based on ticket sales. The more tickets sold, the bigger the jackpot can become. Interest and funding from other participating lotteries also help increase the jackpot each drawing when no players match all 6 numbers.
Winning Numbers
The winning numbers drawn on Saturday, October 15 were:
- 10
- 33
- 41
- 47
- 56
- Powerball 24
The Power Play multiplier was 2X.
Odds of Winning
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are incredibly small – 1 in 292.2 million. This makes matching all 6 numbers correctly an extremely difficult feat.
Here are the odds for other Powerball prizes:
- Match 5 numbers: 1 in 11,688,054
- Match 4 numbers: 1 in 913,129
- Match 3 numbers: 1 in 36,525
- Match 2 numbers: 1 in 606
As you can see, the chances of winning any Powerball prize are low, but millions of players each drawing buy tickets hoping to beat the long odds.
Powerball Game Basics
How to Play
Powerball is played by selecting 5 numbers from 1 to 69 and 1 Powerball number from 1 to 26. Tickets cost $2 per play.
To win the jackpot, you must match all 5 white ball numbers and the red Powerball. Lower tier prizes are won by matching some or none of the white balls plus the Powerball.
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets must be purchased before the cutoff time, usually 1 to 2 hours before the drawing.
Multi-State Game
Powerball is offered in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Sales from Powerball tickets fund jackpots and other prizes. A portion of sales also goes to each jurisdiction’s general fund to support government services and programs.
Payout Options
Powerball winners can choose between an annuity paid out over 29 years or a one-time lump sum payment. For the $1.6 billion jackpot, the cash value is an estimated $782.4 million.
Nearly all big winners take the cash option. The lump sum for this jackpot was lower than expected since the interest rates used to calculate annuity payments were revised downward.
Taxes
Both the annual payments and lump sum are subject to federal and any applicable state and local taxes. The top federal tax rate of 37% applies to lottery winnings. State taxes can be as high as 8% to 10% depending on the jurisdiction.
After taxes, this Powerball jackpot cash value will be reduced to around $400 million. Still a life changing amount of money for the lucky California ticket holder.
Notable Powerball Jackpots
Here are some of the largest Powerball jackpots won prior to this record $1.6 billion drawing:
| Amount | Date | Winning State |
|---|---|---|
| $1.586 billion | 1/13/2016 | California, Florida, Tennessee |
| $768.4 million | 3/27/2019 | Wisconsin |
| $758.7 million | 8/23/2017 | Massachusetts |
| $731.1 million | 1/20/2021 | Maryland |
| $699.8 million | 10/4/2021 | California |
| $590.5 million | 5/18/2013 | Florida |
| $587.5 million | 11/28/2012 | Arizona, Missouri |
| $564.1 million | 2/11/2015 | North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas |
| $559.7 million | 1/6/2018 | New Hampshire |
| $487.0 million | 7/30/2016 | New Hampshire |
As you can see, there have been several enormous Powerball jackpots won over the years. But none come close to reaching this new record amount.
The previous world record jackpot of $1.586 billion was shared by three tickets in January 2016. Winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee for that draw.
State Lotteries
Largest State Jackpots
Looking beyond multi-state games, here are some of the biggest jackpots awarded by individual state lotteries:
| Lottery | Jackpot | Date | Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $316 million | 11/7/2000 | SuperLotto Plus |
| Georgia | $380 million | 11/8/2003 | Mega Millions |
| Illinois | $656 million | 4/18/2012 | Mega Millions |
| Indiana | $314 million | 2/9/2010 | Mega Millions |
| Kansas | $365 million | 12/25/2012 | 2by2 |
| Louisiana | $191 million | 10/14/2017 | Lotto |
| Maryland | $262 million | 8/22/2012 | Mega Millions |
These jackpots may be smaller than Powerball, but they can still produce life changing winnings. State lottery jackpots frequently climb into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oldest State Lotteries
New Hampshire was the first state to introduce a modern lottery in 1964. Over the next decade, other states followed including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Washington DC, Maine, Oregon, and New Mexico.
By the 1980s, many other states approved lotteries as they sought new revenue sources without raising taxes. Only a handful of states like Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and Utah still do not have a lottery.
State Lottery Funding
Most lotteries in the United States are run by state governments. Lottery revenue is generally allocated to supporting specific government programs and services.
Some common beneficiaries of lottery proceeds include:
- Public education
- Environmental protection
- Senior services
- Infrastructure projects
- General state funds
While they attract some controversy, lotteries have become a significant funding source for states over the past several decades.
World Lotteries
Largest International Jackpots
The biggest lottery jackpots from outside the United States include:
| Lottery | Jackpot | Date |
|---|---|---|
| EuroMillions | £195 million | July 2011 |
| EuroMillions | €190 million | October 2014 |
| EuroMillions | €190 million | August 2012 |
| EuroMillions | €185 million | October 2021 |
| SuperEnalotto | €177 million | October 2010 |
| EuroMillions | €163 million | July 2011 |
| SuperEnalotto | €156 million | April 2022 |
| El Gordo | €720 million | December 2015 |
EuroMillions is a multi-country game played across Europe that frequently produces jackpots over €100 million. El Gordo is Spain’s huge annual Christmas lottery that has reached total prizes over €2 billion.
Oldest Lotteries
Some of the oldest continually running lotteries include:
- Netherlands: Staatsloterij (1726)
- Germany: Sächsische LOTTO-GmbH (1614)
- Italy: Lotto di Genova (1576)
- France: La Française des Jeux (1539)
- Spain: Lotería Primitiva (1763)
- Australia: Tatts Lotto (1881)
Many European countries established lottery games back in the 16th and 17th centuries to fund government activities. Over the centuries, these games have evolved and expanded but their basic premise remains the same.
Largest Global Jackpot
The record for the biggest lottery jackpot in the world was just set on October 15, 2022 at $1.6 billion by the Powerball game in the United States.
This surpassed the previous record of $1.586 billion that was also set by Powerball in 2016. For now, Powerball continues to hold the distinction as providing the largest lottery prizes on earth.
No other lottery games currently approach the incredible jackpots regularly offered by Powerball. The massive population and ticket sales in the U.S. allows the game’s jackpots to quickly escalate into the hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars on a regular basis.
Lottery Jackpot FAQs
Has anyone ever won the lottery more than once?
Yes, there are several documented cases of people winning big lottery jackpots multiple times. Some examples:
- Joan Ginther won 4 jackpots in Texas worth over $20 million total.
- Richard Lustig won 7 lottery jackpots and wrote books about winning strategies.
- Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery twice in the 1980s for over $5 million total.
- William Post won 2 Powerball jackpots in the 1990s totaling over $16 million.
However, winning even once is extremely rare. Hitting multiple jackpots relies on almost unbelievable luck.
What are the chances of winning back-to-back jackpots?
The odds of winning two lottery jackpots in a row are essentially the odds of winning one jackpot squared. For Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. So the odds of winning it twice in a row are roughly 1 in 292 million x 292 million, or 1 in 85 quadrillion!
As you can see, consecutive wins are virtually impossible. No one has ever won the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot in back-to-back drawings.
Has anyone shared record jackpots before?
Yes, there have been several shared record jackpots over the years, including:
- The previous Powerball record of $1.586 billion was split by 3 tickets in 2016.
- A Mega Millions record of $656 million in 2012 was split between 3 tickets.
- A $687.8 Mega Millions jackpot in 2021 was split by 2 tickets.
- A 2016 Powerball jackpot of $1.59 billion was shared by 3 ticket holders.
Having multiple winners is not unusual for record jackpots. More tickets are sold when prizes get extremely high, increasing the likelihood of multiple players selecting the right numbers.
What is the biggest single ticket jackpot win?
The largest lottery jackpot ever won by a single ticket was a $1.537 billion Mega Millions prize in 2018. It was purchased in South Carolina and claimed by a participant who opted to remain anonymous.
The previous record single ticket win was a $758.7 million Powerball jackpot won in Massachusetts in 2017 by Mavis Wanczyk.
Conclusion
The new record Powerball jackpot of $1.6 billion demonstrates the immense popularity of lotteries in the United States. For decades, games like Powerball and Mega Millions have produced massive jackpots that capture public imagination.
While the odds of winning are infinitesimally small, millions of players can’t resist the opportunity to win a life changing fortune. This dream of striking it rich continues to drive lottery ticket sales and produce new record jackpots on a regular basis.
Based on its long track record, Powerball seems poised to smash its own records again sometime in the future. For now, the lucky ticket holder in California can celebrate winning the largest lottery jackpot in world history at $1.6 billion.
