Powerball Jackpot Increased to $700 Million for Wednesday’s Drawing
TRENTON (Aug. 22, 2017) – The Powerball Jackpot has been increased to $700 million for the Wednesday, August 23rd drawing. The jackpot is the second highest in both Powerball history and all North American games’ history. If the winning ticket is purchased as an annuity, the estimated $700* million jackpot prize will be paid out over 30 years. The first payment would be $10,536,005 * and the 30th payment would be $43,367,623*. The cash value is $443.3* million.
“The excitement and public awareness created by the increased jackpot is a good time to remind players to play responsibly. Yearlong, the New Jersey Lottery promotes responsible play through its cooperation with the Council on Compulsive Gambling of NJ and by promoting the helpline 1-800-GAMBLER® phone number on all Lottery marketing and advertising material. I will once again remind players to bet with their heads and not over it, “said Carole Hedinger, executive director, New Jersey Lottery.
This is the largest jackpot since the January 13, 2016 drawing when three tickets split the $1.586 billion prize. The jackpot-winning tickets were sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee. Wednesday’s drawing will be the 21st since the Powerball jackpot was last hit on June 10th in California. That jackpot was $447.8 million.
New Jersey players have won millions of dollars during the 21 drawing run. There have been two $1,000,000 and 27 $50,000 prizewinning tickets sold. In total, 1,080,889 New Jersey Lottery tickets won a total of $9,433,291.
Perhaps Wednesday’s drawing will bring the jackpot home to New Jersey. The New Jersey Lottery has had seven jackpot winning tickets for six draws (two NJ tickets received a share of one jackpot) since adding Powerball in January 2010. New Jersey’s most recent win was on May 7, 2016 when the Smith Family won $429.6 million with a cash value of $284 million. They have created the Smith Family Foundation to assist people in the Trenton area and abroad with education and other good causes.
Powerball is played in 47 jurisdictions (44 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands), and is not played in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, or Utah. Players select 5 numbers from 1-69 and 1 Powerball number from 1-26. The odds of hitting the jackpot are 1 in 292 million. The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 25.
*Taxes will be deducted from the final jackpot amount.
| Top 10 Jackpots, All Games | |||||
| Rank | Jackpot | Date | Game | Winning Tickets | Winning States |
| 1 | $1.586 billion | January 13, 2016 | Powerball | 3 | CA, FL, TN |
| $700 million | current | Powerball | |||
| 2 | $656 million | March 30, 2012 | Mega Millions | 3 | KS, IL, MD |
| 3 | $648 million | December 17, 2013 | Mega Millions | 2 | CA, GA |
| 4 | $590.5 million | May 18, 2013 | Powerball | 1 | FL |
| 5 | $587.5 million | November 28, 2012 | Powerball | 2 | AZ, MO |
| 6 | $564.1 million | February 11, 2015 | Powerball | 3 | NC, PR, TX |
| 7 | $536 million | July 8, 2016 | Mega Millions | 1 | IN |
| 8 | $487 million | July 30, 2016 | Powerball | 1 | NH |
| 9 | $448.4 million | August 7, 2013 | Powerball | 3 | MN, NJ (2) |
| 10 | $447.8 million | June 10, 2017 | Powerball | 1 | CA |
ABOUT THE LOTTERY
Since its inception in 1970, the New Jersey Lottery (NJLottery.com) has contributed nearly $25 billion to the State in support of education and institutions.
