COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The 35th Powerball drawing was not the charm.
Monday’s drawing marks the 35th time numbers have been drawn in this round of the jackpot, pushing the top prize to an estimated $1.565 billion, but with no winner, the estimated top prize is now expected to climb to $1.73 billion, making it the second highest jackpot ever.
Monday’s winning numbers were 16, 34, 46, 55, and 67 and the Powerball is 14. The Power Play multiplier is 3x.
With no winner Monday or Saturday, the jackpot has far surpassed the last billion-dollar jackpot, which, coincidentally, was also the last jackpot won in the game: $1.08 billion on July 19. Monday’s grand prize total was the third largest of all time, $1.58 billion.
Monday’s drawing could have been 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 (Monday’s jackpot prize would have resulted 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), more than $163,152,000 would be withheld in federal taxes and more than $27,192,000 in Ohio taxes, making the payout worth an estimated $489,456,000.
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
- $1.73 billion (est.) – Oct. 11, 2023
- $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016
- $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.
