What are the odds of winning the $1.73 billion Powerball — or even the $1 million prize?
If you’ve been feeling lucky about your odds of winning the second largest Powerball jackpot of all time, think again.
The current Powerball jackpot is at $1.73 billion — and the drawing is Wednesday — but your odds aren’t great. You’re more likely to get attacked by a shark.
What’s the take home?
You won’t take those exact numbers home. It’s closer to a lump sum payment of $756.6 million or if you take the annuitized prize, $1.73 billion — but that’s before taxes. If you take the annuity option, according to Powerball, you’ll receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that go up 5% each year.
If you win in California, at least, you won’t be taxed on the state level.
You’ll still have to pay federal taxes of 24% anytime you have a gambling win of more than $5,000. Plus, because the payout puts you in a higher tax bracket, you’ll pay additional federal taxes of 37% of your earnings.
What are the odds of winning the lottery?
But how likely are you to win the lottery?
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball to earn the jackpot is roughly 1-in-292 million.
You’re more likely to get bitten by a white shark if you’re a surfer at 1-in-17 million, finding a four-leaf clover at 1-in-10,000 or getting struck by lightning at less than one in a million.
What if you match just the Powerball (chances are 1-in-38)? You’ll take home $4.
If you match three of the main draw numbers, your odds improve to 1 in 580 and a payout of $7.
For five matching numbers, your odds are nearly 1-in-12 million and a prize of $1 million.
For winning any prize at all, your odds are 1 in 24.9.
These were the top 10 Powerball jackpots and the states they were won in:
$2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022 – California
$1.73 billion (est.) – Oct. 11, 2023 — TBD
$1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – California, Florida, Tennessee
$1.08 billion – July 19, 2023 – California
$768.4 million – March 27, 2019 – Wisconsin
$758.7 million – Aug. 23, 2017 – Massachusetts
$754.6 million – Feb. 6, 2023 - Washington
$731.1 million – Jan. 20, 2021 – Maryland
$699.8 million – Oct. 4, 2021 – California
$687.8 million – Oct. 27, 2018 – Indiana, New York
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This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 2:46 PM with the headline "What are the odds of winning the $1.73 billion Powerball — or even the $1 million prize?."
