Powerball Winning Numbers For 1/29/2020 Drawing: $394M Jackpot

The Powerball jackpot has ballooned to $394 million for the player who holds the winning ticket on Wednesday, Jan. 29. The one-time cash payout for tonight's Powerball drawing is $274.6 million.

The hefty jackpot ranks as the 18th biggest in the game's history. The winning Powerball numbers are drawn every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time, with Powerball results usually posted within five minutes.

In most states, ticket sales end at least one hour before the drawing, but a state may halt sales earlier, such as Illinois, which stops sales three hours before the drawing. In Maryland and New Jersey, ticket sales end at 9:59 p.m.; in Virginia, they close at 10 p.m. Check with your state lottery for the cut-off time.

The winning Powerball numbers for Wednesday, Jan. 29, are: 09, 12, 15, 31, 60 and the Powerball of 02.

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

A player in South Carolina claimed the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot on Oct. 23, 2018, game officials said.

To win the Powerball jackpot a player must match all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball number. The odds of picking the correct Powerball grand prize numbers are one in 292,201,338, which doesn't change even if more players buy tickets when the jackpot is enormous.

You have a better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot if you let the computer select your numbers, according to lottery officials. About 75 percent of winning tickets over the years had numbers picked by a computer.

Powerball tickets cost $2 each. Find locations where you can buy your Powerball tickets here.

These are the five largest Powerball jackpots in the game's 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

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