Abu Sabet: Santa may deliver the ultimate Christmas gift to someone on the nice list this year – the $1.7 billion Powerball jackpot.
The current jackpot is the fourth-largest in history, according to Powerball, and the game's second biggest this year after 46 consecutive draws without a winner.
A $1.787 billion Powerball jackpot that was won in September by two tickets in Missouri and Texas was the second-largest prize in U.S. lottery history. Today's drawing is scheduled for 10:59 p.m. ET. If no one wins, the next drawing will be Saturday, Dec. 27.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in over 292 million, according to Powerball. 2 tickets sold in Missouri and Texas win massive $1.8B Powerball jackpot
Tim Chartier, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson College, likens trying to win the Powerball jackpot with those odds to selecting a specific second over a nine-year span, and then attempting to guess that specific second. He told ABC News that buying more tickets does increase a player's odds of winning – but only marginally.
"If you buy 100 tickets, it's true that you actually multiply your chance of winning by 100," Chartier said, but also noted that "buying 100 tickets is like having just 100 guesses to guess that one second in a nine-year span, so it's still not terribly likely." Powerball winners have a choice between a lump-sum cash payment of $781.3 million or an annuitized prize for the full amount that would be paid in annual payments. Both amounts are before taxes.
To win the jackpot, players must purchase a $2 Powerball ticket and select five white numbers between 1 and 69 and one red Powerball number between 1 and 26. The prize grows until someone matches the five white numbers in any order and the red Powerball. Why the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot is the latest in a growing list of stratospheric lottery payouts
You can watch the drawing live on the Powerball website. Top 10 Powerball jackpots and winning states
1. $2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022 – California
2. $1.787 billion – Sept. 6, 2025 – Missouri, Texas
3. $1.765 billion – Oct. 11, 2023 – California
4. $1.7 billion (current estimated jackpot)
5. $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – California, Florida, Tennessee
6. $1.326 billion – April 6, 2024 – Oregon
7. $1.08 billion – July 19, 2023 – California
8. $842.4 million – Jan. 1, 2024 – Michigan
9. $768.4 million – March 27, 2019 – Wisconsin
10. $758.7 million – Aug. 23, 2017 – Massachusetts
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