Powerball Jackpot Swells To $1.4B Saturday: Deadline For Tickets In VA

VIRGINIA — The Powerball jackpot has reached $1.4 billion for Saturday’s drawing — a threshold that’s prompting people all over Virginia to dream about what they’d do with all that money if they’re able to match all five white numbers and the red Powerball.

If you want a chance at the prize, which has a cash value of $643.7 million, make sure you get your tickets by 10 p.m. ET to be eligible for the drawing at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday. Drawings are held three times a week, at 10:59 p.m. EST on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturday.

Dream, but don’t actually count on having the money to spend. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The grand prize for Saturday’s drawing grew after no one matched the five white balls of 9, 35, 54, 63, 64 and the red Powerball, which was 1, on Wednesday. The PowerPlay multiplier was 2X.

Saturday’s jackpot is the third largest in the Powerball game and fifth largest among U.S. lottery jackpots.

By law, all Virginia Lottery profits are required to be used by the Commonwealth for K-12 education. In 2021, the Virginia Lottery distributed $774.56 million to schools, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.

Winners may choose to receive their prize as an annuity paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or they may take a cash payout, which is estimated at $304.8 million for Saturday’s game. Nearly all winners choose cash.

The Virginia Lottery says the state has had two Powerball winners in the game's history. A player who bought their $217 million ticket on Superbowl Sunday in 2013.

And one ticket matched all six numbers in the March 4, 2023, Powerball drawing worth an estimated $161 million. The winning ticket was bought at Gill Brothers in Dublin, Virginia.

More than 3.2 million winning tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing, including three $2 million winners, one each in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Texas. Those ticket holders had played the multiplier, doubling their winnings on tickets that matched all five white balls.

Seven other players matched the white balls and won $1 million. Those tickets were sold in California and Texas, each with two $1 million winners, and Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania.

Saturday’s drawing will be the 34th in the jackpot run, and the first time in Powerball history that back-to-back jackpot cycles have generated billion-dollar grand prizes. The Powerball jackpot was previously won July 19, when a ticket in California won a jackpot worth $1.08 billion.

Prizes may be claimed as a lump sum or in annual payments over 30 years. Both prizes are subject to taxes.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.