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Powerball jackpot is $168M and up for grabs on Wednesday. What to know

Powerball is on the rise and you could win the $168 million jackpot. Here's everything you need to know.

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Shelby Brown (she/her/hers) is an editor for CNET's services team. She covers tips and tricks for apps, operating systems and devices, as well as mobile gaming and Apple Arcade news. Shelby also oversees Tech Tips coverage. Before joining CNET, she covered app news for Download.com and served as a freelancer for Louisville.com.
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Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
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6 min read
$100 bills

Have you ever played the lottery?

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The Powerball is the closest thing the US has to a national lottery. Residents or visitors in 45 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are able to buy tickets. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah are the five states that currently don't participate. And come August, Idaho will end its Powerball participation over concerns that the game is planning to expand overseas.

Here's what you need to know about how the lottery works if you're thinking about trying it.

When are Powerball drawings?

Drawings are held every Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET).

How much is the jackpot currently?

The Powerball is sitting at $168 million, or a cash value of $117 million, as of May 10. Each time it's not awarded, the pot grows by about $10 million.

How does the Powerball game work?

The player chooses five white balls numbered 1 through 69, and one red Powerball of any number between 1 and 26. These numbers are chosen with a play slip that you can buy at most convenience stores. Every Powerball play costs $2. You can also opt for Quick Pick, where a computer randomly selects your numbers.

During the drawing, the white balls are chosen from one spinning drum and the red balls from another. When Lotto America became the Powerball in 1992, the game started using two spinning raffle-style drums -- before that, Lotto America used two separate machines for drawing.

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The odds of winning the lottery are razor-thin, but people still try.

Martin Diebel/Getty Images

Here are the ways one ticket could win and the odds of winning (according to the Multi-State Lottery Association's Powerball site):

  • Match all six numbers, win the entire pot (or the cash value)
    Odds: 1 in 292,201,338
  • Match all five white balls, win $1 million
    Odds: 1 in 11,688,053.52
  • Match four white balls and the red Powerball, win $50,000
    Odds: 1 in 913,129.18
  • Match only four white balls, win $100
    Odds: 1 in 36,525.17
  • Match three white balls and the red Powerball, win $100
    Odds: 1 in 14,494.11
  • Match three white balls, win $7
    Odds: 1 in 579.76
  • Match two white balls and the Powerball, win $7
    Odds: 1 in 701.33
  • Match one white ball and the Powerball, win $4
    Odds: 1 in 91.98
  • Match only the Powerball, win $4
    Odds: 1 in 38.32

You have a 1 in 24.9 chance of winning anything at all. Why aren't the odds of matching only the Powerball 1 in 26? Because you have to have matched no white balls as well. The Missouri Lottery website has an explainer here.

How the money is paid out to the winner

Winners can either receive the amount in installments over a number of years or take a one-time cash payout. For instance, if a winner chooses to take a lump sum of the $168 million jackpot, it won't actually be that amount. According to Powerball's website, it will be the amount of money required to be in the prize pool to fund the estimated annuity prize. It will still, however, be a lot of money. A woman who won a $188 million Powerball jackpot in 2015 reportedly took a lump sum of $126 million

You can also choose to take the payout in 30 annual installments over 29 years, with those annuity payments increasing by 5%.

You'll need to claim your lottery winnings on your taxes using the form 1099-MISC for miscellaneous winnings. Depending on where you live, state and local taxes could take an additional 13% of your winnings. In addition, when tax season rolls around, you'll likely be placed in a higher tax bracket than you were before winning, so the top federal tax rate of 37% will come into play.

Powerball winners more often do opt for the one-time cash payment, though, according to the lottery's website. Only about four winners have chosen to receive their winnings in annuity since 2003. Prior to 2020, two jackpots went unclaimed and two have been anonymous. 

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To win the jackpot, all six numbers must match. But the odds are one in over 250 million.

Jodi Jacobson/Getty Images

Has anyone actually won anything in recent drawings?

A lucky Florida resident won the $238 million jackpot after the March 27 drawing. In Michigan, another player walked away with $150,000 after matching four white balls and the Powerball while also playing the Power Play option. 

The odds don't seem to be in my favor. What's a better way to spend my money? 

For comparison's sake, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning (one chance in 500,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) than you have of winning $50,000 or more in the Powerball. From a statistical point of view, it's not the wisest way to gamble. 

There are plenty of games under $2 on Steam and movies you can watch online. Also, if you played twice a week every week of the year, that's about $208 you'd be flushing away. If you instead set that money aside, you'll have enough to buy, say, a Nintendo Switch Lite at the end of the year. 

Qualifications to play the Powerball

To play the Powerball, you must be at least 18 years old. You don't have to be a US citizen or a US resident to play. You can also play if you're not a resident of the state in which you bought the ticket. 

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The lottery as we know it today has gone through many changes since the '80s.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Why is Idaho ending its participation in Powerball?

Idaho's state Legislature has voted to leave the Powerball game this August, the Associated Press reported in March. The move comes as a result of Powerball's expansion to include Australia in 2021 and the UK in 2022. Idaho's current state law only allows residents to participate in lotteries in the US and Canada, and as such Idaho Lottery officials pursued a change to allow for the inclusion of the new countries. The bill was shot down in a 10-4 vote in the Legislature's House State Affairs Committee. In reaction to the news, Idaho Lottery's statement emphasized that for now the state's residents can still play Powerball, with the state recording two $50,000 winners on March 10.

"Work continues with the Legislature to determine an alternative path forward to ensure no disruption in service to Idaho's single most popular lottery game, for the benefit of Idaho's public schools and buildings," the lottery organization said.

Can you still play Lotto America? 

Yes, but not the original game from 1992 that became the Powerball. You can play Lotto America -- the revival of the game that replaced the fraud-ridden Hot Lotto game in 2017. Drawings take place every Wednesday and Saturday at 8:15 p.m. PT (11:15 p.m. ET). Players choose five numbers between 1 and 52 along with a Star Ball numbered 1 to 10. There are also nine ways to win Lotto America, but the odds of winning the jackpot (meaning all five numbers match plus the Star Ball) are 1 in almost 26 million. 

Only 13 states still play Lotto America -- Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia. 

Upcoming schedule of Powerball and other lottery events 

Powerball drawings
Every Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET)

Mega Millions 
Tuesday and Friday at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET)

Lotto America
Wednesday and Saturday at 8:15 p.m. PT (11:15 p.m. ET)

Cash4Life
Every night at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)

Disclaimer: CNET is not affiliated with any organizations that conduct lotteries, nor do we endorse participation. Playing the lottery is a game, and your odds of winning are set according to the organization running it. CNET may take in affiliate revenue from commerce links; there are no similar agreements in place between CNET and organizations running the lottery. This story is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.

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