COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Saturday did not mark an end to this current round of Powerball drawings, but one Ohioan is a newly minted millionaire.
Saturday night’s Powerball drawing marked the 34th time numbers have been drawn in this round of the jackpot, pushing the top prize to an estimated $1.423 billion. Saturday’s winning numbers are 47, 54, 57, 60 and 65 and the Powerball is 19. The Power Play multiplier is 3x.
With no winner Saturday, the jackpot is now up to $1.55 billion, surpassing the last billion-dollar jackpot, which, coincidentally, was also the last jackpot won in the game: $1.08 billion on July 19. The current grand prize total is the third-largest of all time and could eclipse the second-largest jackpot of $1.58 billion by the time numbers are drawn again on Monday.
If there is a winning ticket sold Monday, it could be worth a one-time cash payment of $679.8 million. Winners of the jackpot can choose either the one-time payment or to be paid out in 30 annual payments over a 29-year period for the full amount (each payment increases by 5% annually). Both prize amounts are before taxes.
In nearly all cases, state lotteries immediately take 24% of the prize for federal taxes (in this case, Monday’s total jackpot prize would result in $372 million being withheld); there is also the possibility of additional taxes due when filing federal returns. In Ohio, any lottery prize more than $600 is taxed at 4% ($62 million for the full jackpot).
If the winner selects the one-time payout (as most do, according to Powerball) for Monday’s drawing, $163,152,000 would be withheld in federal taxes and $27,192,000 in Ohio taxes, making the payout worth an estimated $4489,456,000.
And one player who bought a ticket for Saturday will end up paying that 4%: One of 10 $1 million tickets sold Saturday was sold in Ohio.
The top 10 Powerball jackpots in the game’s history are:
- $2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022
- $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016
- $1.55 billion (est.) – Oct. 9, 2023
- $1.08 billion – July 19, 2023
- $768.4 million – March 27, 2019
- $758.7 million – Aug. 23, 2017
- $754.6 million – Feb. 6, 2023
- $731.1 million – Jan. 20, 2021
- $699.8 million – Oct. 4, 2021
- $687.8 million – Oct. 27, 2018
Of those top 10 jackpots, none have been won in Ohio. The last jackpot won in Ohio was on April 16 by the Crazy Luck Trust Ohio for an annuity of $252,600,000 or a one-time payment of $134,669,327.27, according to the Powerball website.
Players select five white-ball numbers between 1 and 69 and then one red Powerball number between 1 and 26.
Saturday’s drawing saw two tickets match all five white balls and the Power Play multiplier to increase their winnings to $2 million; 10 tickets, including the one in Ohio, matched the five white balls for a $1 million prize; 27 tickets won $150,000 ($50,000 prize with the multiplier); and 85 tickets won $50,000. In total, 4.5 million tickets won prizes worth at least $4.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets cost $2 each with an optional $1 Power Play multiplier option which applies to all prizes except the jackpot. In most areas, the sale of tickets ends anywhere from one to two hours before the 10:59 p.m. EST drawing.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338 while the odds of winning any amount are 1 in 24.87. The odds remain constant because they are based on the possibility of matching the drawn combination of numbers, not on the number of tickets sold.
