WASHINGTON — Nobody was lucky enough to hit the $439 million jackpot on the line for Wednesday night's Powerball drawing as the game's winless streak continued.
Wednesday's winning numbers were 6-15-22-42-47 and Powerball 26. Nobody matched all six, so Friday's estimated jackpot rises to $473 million.
While $439 million is an enormous amount of money, it still falls more than $200 million short of cracking the top 10 list of largest lottery jackpots.
The last Powerball jackpot win was in mid-November. In early November, a single ticket bought in California won a record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.
The eye-popping grand prize jackpots are only for winners who choose the game's annuity option, which is paid out over 29 years. Most players take the smaller one-time payment — in Wednesday's drawing's case, $237.3 million (before taxes, of course).
The current jackpot also has a tough act to follow after a $1.35 billion Mega Millions ticket was sold in Maine last week. The winner, who hasn't been identified, can remain anonymous. More than a dozen other players matched five numbers and won the game's second-tier prize of $1 million.
Odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are slim — one in 292.2 million.
Over the past few years, huge lottery jackpots have become more common as lottery officials have changed the rules and ticket prices to boost top prizes.
In 2021, the lottery game saw its biggest change as Powerball officials added a Monday drawing to its weekly lineup of Wednesday and Saturday evening drawings. At the time of the announcement, Powerball proclaimed the addition of the Monday drawing would lead to "larger, faster-growing jackpots."
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
What are the largest US lottery jackpots ever won?
- $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
- $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
- $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
- $1.35 billion Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket, from Maine)
- $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
- $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
- $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
- $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
- $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)
- $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)