A $1.73 billion jackpot was up for grabs in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. It was the second-largest prize in the game’s history.
Aside from horse racing and charitable bingo, the lottery has the longest history of any gambling type in the Bay State. During the 2023 fiscal year (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023), the Massachusetts Lottery produced about $1.17 billion in net profit. The figure is the highest net profit total in the lottery’s 51-year history.
According to reports, a California resident correctly picked the five numbers and bonus Powerball number. Therefore, the Golden State native won the 10-figure sum. A California resident won at least a piece of the four largest Powerball jackpots.
Powerball also awards $2 million and $1 million prizes to anyone who picks all five non-Powerball numbers correctly. Nobody in Massachusetts won those prizes, either.
Details on next Powerball drawing
The Powerball is one of two major multi-state draw games for people who play Massachusetts Lottery games. Alongside Mega Millions, the two games are the best chance for lottery players to win a nine or 10-figure sum.
Now that the jackpot was hit, it resets to $20 million. Every week that it isn’t hit, the jackpot increases.
If there is a lucky grand prize winner, they would have two payout options. First, they can select to have the estimated jackpot paid out over 30 years as an annual payment. Or, they can receive a lump sum payment. With the recent jackpot reset, that is now worth $9.1 million.
Both of those numbers are calculated before taxes are withheld.
Powerball drawings are held three times a week: Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The next drawing is on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Powerball costs $2 per ticket.
The truth is that Massachusetts may have some luck on its side. According to lottery officials, 11 people in the state have won at least $1 million playing lottery games over the past month.
Powerball odds
According to Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. That means there is a higher likelihood that you will die at the hands of a falling vending machine than you are to win this jackpot. However, those numbers won’t stop people from playing, and it won’t stop them from shaking vending machines to get that pisky bag of chips to drop.
There have been 28 consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner since a Powerball jackpot was won on July 19, when a ticket sold in California won a $1.08 billion prize. That was the third-largest in the game’s history.
Five largest jackpots in Powerball history
- $2.04 billion from one winning ticket in California in November 2022
- $1.73 billion from one winning ticket in California in October 2023
- $1.586 billion from three winning tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016
- $1.08 billion from one winning ticket in California in July 2023
- $768.4 million from one winning ticket in Wisconsin in March 2019
