The Powerball jackpot hit $1.2 billion on Oct. 3, 2023, the third-biggest prize in the game’s history.
Without a winner on Monday night, the Powerball jackpot increased to an estimated $1.2 billion, the third-largest prize in the game's history.
The choice between a $551.7 million lump sum payment and a $1.2 billion annuitized award will be one of the winner's major choices. Both choices are pretax projections.
The likelihood of winning the jackpot is one in 292.2 million when the next Powerball drawing takes place on Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET.
According to Powerball, the annuity offers a single upfront payment, followed by 29 annual installments that increase by 5% each year, as opposed to the lump sum's whole prize up front.
The lump sum payment is "in error.
Almost all lottery winners choose the lump sum distribution, according to Chicago-based attorney Andrew Stoltmann, who has represented a number of lottery winners. And that, in my opinion, is a mistake.
Because "the typical lottery winner doesn't have the infrastructure in place to manage such a large sum so quickly," he said, the annuity is frequently a better choice.
