There’s been a lot of prize money at stake lately when it comes to the lottery, and that’s the situation again tonight with Powerball and Megabucks as well.
The Powerball jackpot for the Wednesday, Nov. 19 drawing is an estimated $593 million, with a cash option on the prize being an estimated $277.6 million.
Tonight’s Powerball drawing will be the (31st) since the jackpot was last hit Sept. 6, when tickets sold in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion jackpot.
Though nobody hit the jackpot after the drawing on Monday, Nov. 17, one $50,000 prize was won on a ticket sold in Revere, Massachusetts.
Do you want to get a Powerball ticket and play for tonight’s jackpot?
Here’s how to do that.
Drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
You can check the Massachusetts Lottery website, or the Powerball website for the drawing results.
Powerball tickets are $2 each and can be purchased until 9:50 p.m. on the day of a drawing.
The Powerball website states that, “the overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.”
To play Powerball, you have to buy a ticket for $2. You can do this at a variety of locations, including your local convenience store, gas station, or grocery store. In some states, Powerball tickets can be bought online.
Once you have your ticket, you need to pick six numbers. Five of them will be white balls with numbers from 1 to 69. The red Powerball ranges from 1 to 26. People can also add a “Power Play” for $1, which increases the winning for all non-jackpot prizes.
The “Power Play” multiplier can multiply winnings by: 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or 10X.
If you are feeling unlucky or want the computer to do the work for you, the “Quick Pick” option is available, where computer-generated numbers will be printed on a Powerball ticket. To win the jackpot, players must match all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball.
If no one wins the jackpot for a given drawing, the cash prize will continue to tick up.
To win, match one of the nine ways to win:
According to a release, tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold,” the release states. “Since its first drawing in 1992, the Powerball game has helped generate more than $36 billion for good causes supported by U.S. lotteries.”
The Megabucks jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing is an estimated $7.45 million, in which the winner could take a $5.1 million cash option.
“This is the game’s largest jackpot since the game was redesigned in 2023 to bring more value to players including better odds of winning, higher average jackpots, bigger payouts for all non-jackpot prizes as well as including an additional third weekly drawing,” according to a release from the Massachusetts Lottery.
Prior to tonight’s drawing, the game’s largest jackpot under the new game matrix was $6.13 million which was hit on Jan. 27 on a ticket purchased in Rockland, Massachusetts.
Megabucks tickets are $2 each and can only be purchased in Massachusetts.
Tickets for Wednesday’s drawing can be purchased until 9 p.m.
Megabucks drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 9 p.m.