Saturday’s Powerball jackpot climbs to $635 million

October 1, 2021 Posted by NC Lottery at 2:02 PM

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday night has climbed to the 6th largest ever in the history of the game, offering a lucky winner $635 million.

The jackpot continues to grow as more and more players across the nation buy tickets and try their luck at winning it.

On Friday, Powerball announced the new $635 million jackpot for Saturday’s drawing, taking it up $15 million more than the day before. It is not only the 6th largest for the Powerball game, but it now ranks as the 10th largest in U.S. lottery history.

A winner would have the choice of taking the jackpot as the $635 million annuity or as a cash payment of $450 million.

As North Carolinians have tried to win the jackpot, they have been winning other big prizes. In Wednesday’s drawing, three tickets sold in North Carolina won $50,000. The lucky tickets were sold at the Speedway on Virginia Road in Edenton, at the Quality Mart on N.C. 68 North in Oak Ridge in Guilford County, and at the Duck Thru Food Store on U.S. 158 in Camden.

Seeing the jackpot this high is what makes the Powerball game exciting. Still, play smart. You only need one ticket to win.

The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

In August, Powerball began offering a third weekly drawing on Monday nights.

Drawings are also held Wednesdays and Saturdays. Players can buy Powerball through Online Play on the lottery’s website, www.nclottery.com, with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App, or at any lottery retail location.

12 COMMENTS

10/06/2021 08:24 - Laurence T.

Instead of one Winner, when the jackpot gets to 250M or greater, why not select 5 50M winners or 250 1M winners. Something different. The current model of months of build up for only a single winner is not fun at all.NC Lottery
We appreciate the feedback, Laurence! Powerball is operated by the Multi-State Lottery Association and takes place across 48 U.S. lottery jurisdictions. We try to offer a variety of games with different prize structures and odds to allow players to play how they prefer. There are all kinds of ways to design a lottery game in terms of the prize payouts - we recommend checking out some of our other games to find one that works for you: https://nclottery.com/Play!

10/06/2021 08:20 - Laurence T.

I am a long time Lottery Player who is getting tired of the current model being used for PB and Mega. The jackpot takes +3 months to build up only for a lone winner to take it all. I say reduce the current odds to allow for more frequent wins.

10/04/2021 08:35 - Angela A.

LOL as soon as someone speaks about Fast Play there is a big hit. I been buying these all week not even break even prize. I am not that unlucky. I purchase at different stores and different times of the day and still nothing. This is a joke NCEL.NC Lottery
Hi, Angela, thanks for reaching out! Every time you play the lottery, it takes luck to beat the odds, whether you purchase one ticket or 10. We wish every ticket could win a prize, but prize money comes from non-winning tickets. We hope your next ticket is a lucky one!

10/03/2021 11:05 - zhi x.

what is wrong with your IT department? the reward points system has been something wrong with loading points these couple days, and now, all my points gone! give me an explanation!NC Lottery
Hi, Zhi! We're sorry this happened and apologize for the inconvenience. Please call our online support team at 1-855-767-1863 or visit https://nclottery.com/Help for further assistance. Thanks for reaching out!

10/03/2021 02:19 - Douglas H.

Hello NCEL IPhone is up to date IOS 15.0.1. Every day have reinstalled and then deleted and reinstalled the app to no avail still do not have the ability to scan tickets properly is this the way it’s going to remain or is there anything I can do? We have tried everything we have to use a flashlight to scan the tickets and even then it doesn’t work properly ThanksNC Lottery
Hi, DL! Sorry to hear you're still experiencing technical difficulties. Please call our online support team at 1-855-767-1863 or visit https://nclottery.com/Help for further assistance.

10/03/2021 09:55 - Tom D.

I purchased a lottery ticket on Friday 1,2021. Is this ticket only good for Fridays drawing and how does the Lucke-Rewards on the bottom of ticket work?NC Lottery
Great question, Tom! If you purchase a base draw ticket, it will be for the next drawing after purchase. However, if you add on multi-draw, the amount of drawings the ticket is good for will depend on the amount purchased. Lucke-Rewards is a way for players to earn points and enter additional drawings. If you have a Lucke-Rewards account, use the Lucke-Rewards code or barcode on your tickets to enter them in your account to earn points. Read more about Lucke-Rewards here: https://nclottery.com/Lucke-Rewards. Hope this helps!

10/02/2021 06:42 - Margaret G.

Really strange how all of a sudden the fast play jackpot is not producing any winners. One day when checking I saw that out of all these tickets being sold they only paid out $500.00 to two winners.But as is NCEL do what they want and will let it hit when they want it to do. It’s just sad that nothing is 100% legit anymore. That jackpot should have hit many times before now. NC Lottery
Hi Margaret, the most recent Fast Play jackpot win was on September 21. You can see a list of recent jackpot and smaller prize wins here: https://nclottery.com/Fast-Play-Recent-Wins. The number of smaller prize wins per day can fluctuate with the number of tickets purchased on that day and the randomness of the odds of winning a prize. We don't when or where a jackpot will be won, it's all a matter of luck!

10/02/2021 02:45 - Beverly E.

Where are my tickets

10/02/2021 10:48 - Richard D.

Today is Day #4 with no Mobile App on my iPhone 6 iOS 12.5.5 Every 6 to 8 hours I power the phone off then back on, delete the App, reload the App from the Store and it still will not "Download an older version of this App". Any estimate as to when this will be fixed? Even better how about getting rid of this latest Update and going back to the prior version that worked flawlessly for all of us. Thank you. NC Lottery
Hi Richard, unfortunately the latest release of our iOS app now has a minimum operating system of iOS 13. As Apple releases new devices and newer OS's this can become necessary for us to ensure the app works on as many devices as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

10/01/2021 09:18 - Patti L B.

If I could win the Powerball or Mega Millions just 1 time, there's so many people I could help and all my grandkids, and my three kids. Plus I could buy out our lease and we could move to be closer to our kids and my twin sister. It would indeed be a blessing!!

10/01/2021 07:15 - DEBRA C.

Good luck everyone! ???

10/01/2021 03:41 - Michael B.

I really enjoy the flash drawings every month.NC Lottery
We're glad to hear that, Michael! Thanks for being a part of the NC Lottery community.

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Saturday’s Powerball jackpot climbs to $635 million

October 1, 2021 Posted by NC Lottery at 2:02 PM

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