Monday night’s Powerball drawing resulted in a $1 billion jackpot, making it the fifth time the game has hit this amount. Ticket sales for the drawing closed one to two hours before the 10:59 p.m. ET draw time, depending on location.
If a lucky winner claimed the billion-dollar prize, they had two options: to receive it in payments spread out over 29 years or a lump sum of $483.8 million, with taxes mandatory either way. The last Powerball jackpot win occurred three months ago when a player in Michigan won $842.4 million on January 1st.
The odds of winning any Powerball prize were 1 in 24.9, while the chances of winning the jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million. CNN advised that if someone won the jackpot, smart planning and staying sane were crucial to navigate this uncharted territory.