On January 25, 2020, the Powerball jackpot stood at an impressive $373 million. The winning numbers for the Saturday night drawing were 02-09-17-36-67, with a Powerball of 18 and a Power Play of 2x. The estimated cash option for the jackpot was $253.7 million, potentially increasing with higher-than-expected ticket sales.
In the previous drawing on January 22, 2020, the numbers 11-33-44-59-67 and Powerball 08 with a 3x Power Play did not yield a grand prize winner. However, two tickets sold in South Carolina and Virginia matched all five white balls, each earning $1 million. If the Power Play had been purchased, the prize would have doubled to $2 million.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who is now chairman of the Business Roundtable, had previously addressed the issue of low wages during a meeting where presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders criticized Walmart’s pay rates. McMillon urged Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, emphasizing that the current rate of $7.25 per hour was insufficient.
The last grand prize winning Powerball ticket was sold on November 2, 2019, in California, for a jackpot of $150 million. Powerball tickets cost $2, with the option to purchase a Power Play for an additional $1, which can multiply non-jackpot prizes.
Powerball is one of America’s two major multi-state lottery games, alongside Mega Millions. Both lotteries reset their jackpots to $40 million after a win and offer multiple ways to win prizes ranging from $4 to $1 million, depending on the combination of numbers matched. The odds of hitting the grand prize jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.
The highest Powerball jackpots to date include:
- $1.586 billion (01/13/2016) – Winning tickets in California, Florida, and Tennessee
- $768.4 million (03/27/2019) – Single ticket in Wisconsin
- $758.7 million (08/23/2017) – Single ticket in Massachusetts
- $687.8 million (10/27/2018) – Two tickets in Iowa and New York
- $590.5 million (05/18/2013) – Single ticket in Florida
- $587.5 million (11/28/2012) – Two tickets in Missouri and Arizona
- $564.1 million (02/11/2015) – Tickets in Texas, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico
Stay tuned for the announcement of Saturday night’s drawing results to see if there is a grand prize winner and where the winning ticket was sold.
