Powerball Winning Numbers: May 1 Drawing Results, $181M Jackpot

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday, May 1, is up to $181 million. The cash payout is about $112.1 million, according to lottery officials.

Winning the Powerball jackpot requires matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball number.

Each Wednesday and Saturday, the winning Powerball numbers are drawn at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time, with Powerball results usually posted within five minutes. The drawing is broadcast from the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee, Florida.

The winning Powerball numbers for Wednesday, May 1, are 5, 23, 28, 56, 66 and the Powerball of 17.

Powerball tickets cost $2 each.

The smallest prize is $4, and that's what people win if they match only the Powerball.

The largest Powerball jackpot in history was $1.586 billion, which was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016.

These are the five largest Powerball jackpots in history:

• $1.586 billion, Jan. 13, 2016
• $768.4 million, March 27, 2019
• $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017
• $688 million, Oct. 27, 2018
• $590.5 million, May 18, 2013

In every drawing, lottery officials say the odds of winning a prize of any value are 1 in 24.9.

The odds of picking the correct Powerball grand prize numbers are about 1 in 292 million, which stays the same regardless of the number of players or size of the jackpot.

Players have a better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot if they let the computer select their numbers, according to lottery officials — about 75 percent of winning tickets over the years had electronically generated numbers.

Winners can choose either to have the full jackpot amount paid out in 30 installments over 29 years, or they can take one lump sum payment that is smaller than the actual total.