Powerball FAQ: 30 Questions Answered

Pick five white balls from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26, or ask for a Quick Pick and let the terminal choose. You win a prize by matching at least the Powerball, or three white balls; match all six to win the jackpot. The white balls can match in any order.

Each play costs $2. Power Play adds $1 and multiplies non-jackpot prizes; Double Play, where offered, adds $1 for a second drawing with the same numbers.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. The drawing is held at the Florida Lottery’s studio in Tallahassee. We post the winning numbers on the Powerball results page minutes later.

Each state sets its own cutoff, usually about an hour or two before the drawing. Tickets bought after the cutoff are for the next drawing, so check the date printed on your ticket.

Powerball is sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and since July 2026 also in the United Kingdom. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah don’t sell it. Buy only from licensed lottery retailers or your state lottery’s own website or app.

In some states, yes: a number of state lotteries sell tickets on their own website or app to players who are physically inside the state. Elsewhere you have to buy in person. Avoid unofficial online resellers; if a prize is disputed, only a ticket bought through an authorized channel is protected.

Neither is better: every combination has exactly the same chance. Most jackpot winners used Quick Picks only because most tickets sold are Quick Picks. Choosing your own numbers can matter in one way: popular picks, such as birthdays, are more likely to be shared with other winners.

The drawing is streamed live on the official Powerball website and shown on TV stations in many states. If you miss it, the numbers are here within minutes.

The jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338. The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24.87.

These are the base prizes for each match:

For $1 more per play, Power Play multiplies every non-jackpot prize by the number drawn before the main drawing: 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X. The 10X multiplier is only in play when the jackpot is $150 million or less. With Power Play, a Match 5 prize is always $2 million.

Double Play is an add-on sold in some states for $1. Your numbers are entered in a second drawing held right after the main one, with a top prize of $10 million. It doesn’t affect the main jackpot.

Yes, but only in proportion: 10 tickets give you 10 chances in 292,201,338. No system, pattern or statistic changes the odds of a single combination.

California law requires lottery prizes to be paid on a pari-mutuel basis: every prize except the jackpot depends on ticket sales and the number of winners in the state, so it can be higher or lower than the amounts listed elsewhere.

The jackpot starts at $20 million and grows after every drawing without a winner, based on ticket sales and interest rates.

The advertised jackpot is announced before ticket sales are known. The lottery estimates how many tickets will be sold and what an annuity would cost at current interest rates, and updates the figure as sales come in.

The largest Powerball jackpot ever was $2.04 billion, won with a single ticket sold in Altadena, California, on Nov. 7, 2022. See our Powerball results page for the current jackpot.

The advertised jackpot is the annuity: 30 payments over 29 years, each 5% larger than the last. The cash option is a single, smaller payment, the money actually in the prize pool. For the current jackpot of $20 million, the cash option is $8.6 million, about 43%. The annuity protects against spending it all at once; the cash can be invested. Winners usually decide with a financial adviser.

Prizes over $5,000 have 24% federal income tax withheld, and jackpot-sized wins are taxed at the top federal rate of 37%, so more is owed when you file. State tax depends on where the ticket was bought and where you live: some states, such as California and Florida, don’t tax lottery prizes, while New York’s top rate is more than 10%. Non-U.S. residents generally have 30% federal tax withheld.

The jackpot is shared equally among all winning tickets, whether they choose cash or the annuity.

In our records, the most recent jackpot win was on Aug. 12, 2026, at $1 billion. Every drawing’s result is on our results history page.

Compare your numbers with the winning numbers on our Powerball results page: the white balls can match in any order, the Powerball separately. Any lottery retailer can scan your ticket for you. The official lottery’s results always take priority.

Smaller prizes can usually be cashed at any lottery retailer. Larger prizes, generally $600 or more, are claimed at a lottery office or by mail with a claim form and ID. Jackpot winners claim at their state lottery’s headquarters. Each state lottery explains its own process on its website.

Each state sets its own deadline, typically between six months and a year after the drawing. The rule for your ticket is printed on its back. Unclaimed prizes go back to the state, so don’t wait.

Yes. A lottery ticket belongs to whoever holds it, so sign the back as soon as you buy it, keep it somewhere safe, and take a photo of both sides.

It depends on the state. Some states let winners keep their name private or claim through a trust or other legal entity; others publish the winner’s name. Check your state lottery’s rules before you claim.

In almost every case a prize can’t be paid without the original ticket. Some state lotteries’ apps or player accounts register tickets, but for a paper ticket the ticket itself is the proof.

Yes. You don’t have to be a U.S. citizen or resident to buy a ticket or claim a prize, but you must buy it legally in a place where the game is sold. Non-residents generally have 30% federal tax withheld from prizes.

Within minutes of each drawing. Every result is checked against at least two independent sources before we publish it; see our editorial policy. The official lottery’s results always prevail.

No. Over time some numbers come up more often than others by chance, which you can see in the most common Powerball numbers and the most common pairs and triples, but past drawings don’t change the odds of the next one.