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Powerball jackpot climbs to $875 million, the third-largest on record

A display panel advertises tickets for a Powerball drawing at a convenience store, Nov. 7, 2022, in Renfrew, Pa. The Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $875 million after no winning ticket was sold for Wednesday's drawing.
Keith Srakocic
/
AP
A display panel advertises tickets for a Powerball drawing at a convenience store, Nov. 7, 2022, in Renfrew, Pa. The Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $875 million after no winning ticket was sold for Wednesday's drawing.

The Powerball jackpot has grown yet again, reaching an estimated $875 million — making it one of the largest in the game's history.

No players were able to match all six winning numbers after Wednesday night's drawing, which were 23-35-45-66-67 and a Powerball of 20.

The new jackpot for Saturday's drawing is the third-largest in the lottery game's history, coming behind the world record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won last year and the $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot won in 2016.

If someone matches all six numbers and wins Saturday's drawing, the winner has a chance to get the $875 million prize paid out in yearly increments or choose to get the one-time lump sum of $441.9 million before taxes.

There have now been 36 consecutive Powerball drawings without a big winner, according to game officials. The last Powerball jackpot won was on April 19 after a ticket sold in Ohio matched the winning numbers and won the prize of $252.6 million.

Research shows that roughly 60% of the revenue generated from U.S. state lotteries goes directly to winners, while the states keep the remaining cash after paying out the prize money and paying certain costs such as advertisements. But for larger lotteries, such as Mega Millions or Powerball, half of the ticket revenue goes toward the game's prize pool.

Powerball is played in 45 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Five states — Alabama, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii and Nevada — don't sell lottery tickets.)

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Jonathan Franklin is a digital reporter on the News desk covering general assignment and breaking national news.