Understanding the Powerball Lottery

Powerball offers a substantial jackpot, with the most recent drawing on Monday, December 15, featuring a $1.1 billion prize with a cash option of $503.4 million. To play, participants select five numbers from 1 to 59 and one Powerball number from 1 to 26.

Tickets cost $2 per play.Players can manually choose their numbers on a playslip or opt for a random selection generated by a lottery machine.

Winning the Jackpot

There are nine different ways to win a prize in Powerball. The jackpot is awarded to those who match all five white balls in any order, along with the red Powerball.

The winning combination for the December 15 draw was 23-35-59-63-68 with a Powerball of 2 and a Powerplay of 4x.

Prize Options and Powerplay

Jackpot winners have the choice of receiving their prize as an annuity – 30 graduated payments over 29 years – or a single lump-sum payment. Both prize options are subject to federal and jurisdictional taxes.

For an additional cost, players can add the ‘Powerplay’ option, which multiplies winnings by 2, 3, 5, or 10. In Idaho and Montana, Powerball automatically includes Power Play for a minimum purchase price of $3 per play.

Recent Powerball Winners

the most recent top prize winner, prior to the December 15 drawing, was a California resident who won $205 million on May 31. Before that, a player in Kentucky was awarded $168 million on April 26.