Lottery fever is spiking — just in time for the holiday season. Though it’s Wednesday, Nov. 26, aka “Black Wednesday” or the night before the 2025 Thanksgiving holiday, Powerball does not take a break.
Will a $2 ticket make you a multimillionaire? As they say in the lottery business, “it could happen to you.”
After no one matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the Monday, Nov. 24, Powerball drawing for $654 million, the jackpot jumped past a whopping $680 million for the Black Wednesday holiday, or “Thanksgiving Eve.”
The current jackpot has since rolled over 32 times after resetting to $20 million on Sept. 8, when a pair of tickets from Fredericksburg, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri, won the $1.787 billion Powerball drawing on Sept. 6.
Mega Millions had quite a lottery frenzy, too, after one ticket from a Georgia Publix matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a whopping $980 million on Friday, Nov. 14. That Mega Millions jackpot rose on the all-time largest Mega Millions jackpot list and very nearly became the second billion-dollar lottery jackpot for 2025 and the 14th overall in the history of Mega Millions and Powerball.
But before that, there’s $681 million up for grabs with Wednesday’s Powerball drawing. The one-time cash option would be $315.7 million, according to Powerball online. Check back after 11 p.m. ET for Wednesday, Nov. 26, winning Powerball numbers. We’ll see if there’s a winner or another rollover during this holiday week.
In case you’re wondering, Monday, Nov. 24, winning Powerball numbers were 8-16-26-30-58 and the Powerball was 14. Power Play was 2x. Though those numbers produced another rollover, it wasn’t all bad news: There was one big winner in Monday night’s Powerball drawing. A ticket purchased in Illinois matched 5 for a $1 million prize.
Tickets start at $2 a piece. Below is what to know about lottery odds, how long to claim the cash option if you bought a ticket in Florida, and what happens to unclaimed prize money, according to the Florida Lottery.
Good luck!
Powerball lottery drawings are at 11 p.m. ET every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, including holidays. Check back for Wednesday, Nov. 26, winning Powerball numbers and Power Play. We’ll see if there’s a big winner so soon after the historic $1.8 billion Powerball or another chance at more money during the 2025 holiday season.
The current Powerball streak started Monday, Sept. 8, after a ticket purchased in Fredericksburg, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri, matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the $1.787 billion drawing on Sept. 6, 2025.
Below is a recap of drawings and rollovers and how much the jackpot has increased over time.
Powerball drawings are held at 11 p.m. ET Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, including holidays. According to Powerball.com, players have a 1 in 292.2 million chance to match all six numbers whether the jackpot is $20 million or $2 billion. Prizes range from $2 to the grand prize jackpot, which varies.
The next Powerball drawing will be Saturday, Nov. 29, aka “Small Business Saturday” or the day after the 2025 Black Friday “shopping holiday.”
Prizes for Florida Lottery must be claimed within 180 days (six months) from the date of the drawing. To claim a single-payment cash option, a winner has within the first 60 days after the applicable draw date to claim it.
The Florida Lottery says its scratch-off tickets and Fast Play game prizes “must be claimed within 60 days of the official end-of-game date. Once the applicable time period has elapsed, the related Florida Lottery ticket will expire.”
According to Florida Lottery’s website, winners cannot remain anonymous: “Florida law mandates that the Florida Lottery provide records containing information such as the winner’s name, city of residence; game won, date won, and amount won to any third party who requests the information.”
However, the site states, the “names of lottery winners claiming prizes of $250,000 or greater will be temporarily exempt from public disclosure for 90 days from the date the prize is claimed, unless otherwise waived by the winner.”
Lottery experts and lawyers have said there are ways to remain anonymous if you win.
Here are the Top 10 Powerball jackpots in the history of the game as of Nov. 26, 2025:
10. $754.6 million — Feb. 6, 2023; Washington
9. $758.7 million — Aug. 23, 2017; Massachusetts
8. $768.4 million — March 27, 2019; Wisconsin
7. $842.4 million — Jan. 1, 2024; Michigan
6. $1.08 billion — July 19, 2023; California
5. $1.33 billion — April 6, 2024; Oregon
4. $1.586 billion — Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida and Tennessee
3. $1.765 billion Powerball drawing — Oct. 11, 2023; California
2. $1.787 billion — Sept. 6, 2025; Missouri and Texas
1.$2.04 billion — Nov. 7, 2022; California
As of Nov. 26, 2025, there have been 13 lottery jackpots that have reached or surpassed $1 billion. Only once has a jackpot surpassed $2 billion. These are the biggest lottery jackpots in U.S. history.
(This story will be updated to include new information.)
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