Powerball lottery tickets Photo: Brandon Bell / Getty images / Profimedia
The Powerball lottery jackpot in the United States rose to about 1.7 billion dollars before the drawing on Wednesday night, on Christmas Eve, being among the biggest lottery prizes in American history, reports Reuters on Tuesday, taken by Agerpres.
Monday night's winning combination of 3, 18, 36, 41, 54 and 7, the Powerball number, was not guessed by any player. But, at the national level, nine tickets brought players prizes of 1 million dollars.
Wednesday's winner can opt to collect the full $1.7 billion in annual payments spread over 29 years or a one-time payment of about $781.3 million before taxes.
This jackpot is the fourth largest in Powerball lottery history, Reuters notes.
The draw is scheduled for Wednesday at 22:59 local time (03:59 GMT, Thursday), with a 1 in 292.2 million chance of winning the jackpot.
The largest jackpot offered in a lottery in the history of the United States was worth 2.04 billion dollars and was won in the Powerball lottery in California in 2022.
Big jackpots tend to boost ticket sales, increasing revenue for state lottery funds that support education and other public spending.
