US Powerball Jackpot Climbs to $83 Million

The US Powerball lottery just broke a world record for the biggest ever single-ticket prize when Mavis Wanczyk from Massachusetts took home a lump sum payment of $480,500,936.39 cash following the draw on August 23rd. 

Powerball Jackpot Rising Again

This follows on from a $279,175,254.46 cash payment won in June, and now the jackpot is starting to climb again, with the current estimates having the prize at $83 million this Wednesday 6th September.

If a single ticket wins this jackpot, the lucky holder will have the option of taking an advance payment and the rest of the money over a period of 29 years, or, as Ms Wanczyk chose, having a single lump sum payment which is subject to local taxes. In Wednesdays' case, they would take home around $52.8 million, but of course, this can go up or down a little as the date of the draw gets closer.

Winning The Powerball

Draws take place on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 10.59p.p. EST, in Tallahassee Florida. To win the jackpot, players will need to match the 5 white balls drawn from a drum of 69 possible numbers, plus the single red Powerball, which is drawn from a second drum of 26.

There's a $1 million prize for matching just the white balls and even players who only get the Powerball number will win $4 back. An optional Powerplay costs a little more, but wins other than jackpots get multiplied by up to 5x over.

Playing Powerball Online

While lotteries are traditionally only open to local residents, in this case those living in the 44 participating states of the USA, thanks to sites like The Lotter, anyone with an internet connection can join in, selecting numbers online in just the same way as if the tickets were bought locally, and winning any prizes due when they match the right numbers, including major jackpots.

Players should always remember the time differences however, with Florida being 5 hours behind GMT for example.