DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The ninth-largest lottery jackpot will be on the line Monday night when numbers are drawn for a $785 million Powerball prize.<\/p>\n
The payout has grown so large because it has been building for more than two months, since a player in California matched all six numbers on July 19 and won $1.08 billion. That’s 28 consecutive drawings without a big winner.<\/p>\n
That winless streak is due to the miserable odds of winning the Powerball jackpot, at 1 in 292.2 million. It’s those long, long odds that result in such large top prizes, as they cause the jackpot to roll over week after week.<\/p>\n
The jackpot is the ninth-largest in the world, behind top prizes in the Powerball and Mega Millions games that all topped $1 billion. The biggest jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in November 2022 in California.<\/p>\n
Although the game highlights the $785 million prize, that is for a winner who is paid through an annuity over 30 years. Winners almost always choose the cash payout option, which for Monday night’s drawing would be $367 million.<\/p>\n
The giant jackpot would also be subject to federal taxes, and some states also tax lottery winnings.<\/p>\n
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n