US Powerball jackpot boosted to $1.6bn making it largest lottery prize in history
Strong sales have boosted a Powerball jackpot to an estimated $1.6bn (£1.3bn) – making it the largest lottery prize in history.
A drawing will be held tomorrow night for the prize which hasn’t been won in more than three months.
That string of 39 consecutive drawings without a winner is a reflection of the tough odds of winning a jackpot – at one in 292.2 million.
It is because of those long odds that the grand prize has grown so large.
The new jackpot tops the previous record prize of $1.586bn (£1.398bn) won in 2016 by three Powerball players in California, Florida and Tennessee.
In terms of what this amount of money actually looks like, according to Powerball if you stacked $1.5bn in $100 bills, it would reach a height of nearly 5,375ft – or over a mile.
If you won $1.6bn you could comfortably buy Windsor Castle.
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The Castle’s current estimated market value is around £497.5m ($561.9m) according to the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.
The total cost of construction for the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai at 2,717ft was $1.5bn.
The jackpot is played in 45 US states, as well as Washington DC., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Read more:
US Powerball jackpot surpasses $1bn ahead of Halloween night draw
But there are five states: Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska and Alabama which do not have a lottery. A mix of reasons has kept them away, including objections from conservatives, concerns about the impact on low-income families or a desire not to compete with existing gaming operations.
The advertised jackpot is the prize for a winner who chooses an annuity, paid annually over 29 years.
Almost all winners instead opt for the cash prize, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $782.4m (£689.4m).
Winners of giant jackpots nearly always take the cash, and financial advisers say that might be a mistake.
Back in the UK, tonight’s EuroMillions draw is worth £139m. Sounds piffling in comparison to the Powerball… but you still wouldn’t sniff at it, would you?
