Forget that recent $393 million Mega Millions win, this week’s Powerball drawing is for serious money.
Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot is now estimated at $700 million, which is the second highest prize in the game’s history. If you win and decide to take the cash up front, you’ll pocket $443.3 million before taxes.
Wednesday’s monster pot is bigger than the $447 million Powerball jackpot won by a California player on June 10. It’s surpassed only by 2016’s $1.586 billion (yes, billion with a “B”) prize, which was split by three winners.
That $700 million prize is big enough to cover business losses from Monday’s eclipse. The outplacement company Challenger, Gray, and Christmas told Reuters that American companies lost an estimated $694 million in productivity while we were all standing outside staring at the sun through cereal boxes.
The odds, as ever, are daunting. You have a 1 in 292,201,338 chance of hitting all five numbers plus the special “Powerball,” which gives the game its name. There’s a 1 in 11,688,053.52 chance of hitting all five non-Powerball numbers for a $1 million payday.
Tickets are $2, and you must submit your numbers before 9:50 p.m. on Wednesday. The drawing will be held at 10:59 p.m. and can be viewed at the lottery’s YouTube page.
