US Powerball jackpot hits $1B again in 2025

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Powerball lottery jackpot in the US has grown to $1 billion for the second time in 2025, setting up Saturday night’s drawing as one of the largest prizes in the game’s history, according to a report Friday by NBC News.

Lottery officials said the jackpot carries a lump-sum cash option of $457.7 million before taxes, an alternative to the annuity paid over several decades. If won, the prize would rank as the seventh-largest jackpot in Powerball history.

NBC News reported that the jackpot has grown after 41 consecutive drawings without a winning ticket, tying the longest winless streak in the game’s history, and mirrors a run that ended in April 2024, when a ticket sold in the state of Oregon won a $1.3 billion jackpot.

The jackpot previously surpassed $1 billion on Sept. 6, when a $1.787 billion prize was split between winning tickets sold in the states of Missouri and Texas. That drawing produced the second-largest jackpot in Powerball history, behind only the $2.04 billion prize won in November 2022, the largest lottery jackpot ever recorded worldwide.

Powerball tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The odds of winning the top prize are about 1 in 292.2 million, according to the officials.