Happy Birthday, Powerball!
Powerball celebrates its 30th anniversary this week with a life-changing jackpot that now stands at $370 million.
Ticket sales began 30 years ago today − April 19, 1992 – with jackpots starting at $2 million. Now the Powerball jackpot starts at $20 million.
North Carolina joined Powerball on May 30, 2006, just two months after the start of the N.C. Education Lottery.
We’ve seen players win jackpots as high as $344 million. The biggest win of all comes with the $1 billion raised so far for education in our state.
In the 16 years that Powerball has been played here, the game has produced:
- Five jackpot wins with the largest, $344 million, occurring in June 2019
- 24 wins of $2 million
- 99 wins of $1 million
If someone wins Wednesday’s jackpot, they would have a choice of taking it as a $370 annuity paid out annually for 29 years or as $222.8 million in cash.
The Powerball jackpot has been rolling since the Valentine’s Day drawing when a ticket sold in Connecticut won a $185.3 million jackpot. The game holds the record for producing the biggest jackpot in the world. That occurred in January 2016 when the jackpot hit $1.586 billion.
Drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and the odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 292 million. Tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
You can buy Powerball tickets at any lottery retail location in the state. Tickets can also be purchased through Online Play at www.nclottery.com and with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
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