By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-11 17:54:36 | Updated at 2026-08-11 18:24:15
51 minutes ago
Lottery fever is spreading across America after no single Powerball ticket managed to hit all six numbers in Monday night's monster $905 million drawing, leaving the massive fortune unclaimed for the 43rd time in a row.
The winning numbers drawn on Monday, August 10, were 6, 37, 54, 55, 64 with a red Powerball of 10 – and a Power Play multiplier of 3x.
The estimated jackpot for the next drawing on Wednesday has ballooned to a staggering $975 million – the total payout keeps growing as more tickets are sold.
That leaves Wednesday night's prize on the verge of the $1 billion mark, making it one of the largest lottery jackpots in US history.
Should a single player hit the jackpot on August 12, they will face a difficult choice: Take an annuity that pays out over the next 29 years or an immediate cash lump sum of $422 million before taxes.
While Monday's main prize went unclaimed, lucky players matched five numbers to win big paydays in Tennessee ($2 million), California ($1 million) and Maryland ($1 million).
The epic Powerball jackpot has been steadily accumulating since May 2, , when the top prize was last reset after ticket holders in Florida and Texas split a $20 million grand prize.
Despite daunting odds of 1 in 292.2 million, millions of ticket buyers are flooding retailers across 45 states before sales cut off for Wednesday's 10.59pm ET drawing.
Julio Canales, originally from Peru, celebrates buying lottery tickets at Bluebird Liquor store in Hawthorne, California
A Powerball lottery advertisement is displayed at a newsstand in New York City.
If the Powerball jackpot hits $1 billion – either from no winner on Wednesday or a larger-than-expected surge in ticket sales – it would mark the 15th time a US lottery prize crossed the nine-figure threshold.
There have been eight other $1 billion or greater Powerball jackpots.
The biggest US lottery prize in history – a Powerball jackpot – was $2.04 billion, won by a ticket sold in California in November 2022.
Despite the impressive jackpot figures, winners take home hundreds of millions of dollars less than the giant sum that lights up billboards and gas stations nationwide.
Winners may choose between 30 annual payments over 29 years or a one-time cash payment. Powerball says that almost all winners opt for the lump sum.
If a winner chooses the former, they receive annual payments that increase by 5 percent a year – so the first payment is the least and the final payment is the largest.
In addition, the total jackpot figure isn't the cash the lottery has on hand to pay a winner, but rather it's what the prize would be if the pool were invested in Treasury bonds over 30 years.
Higher interest rates over recent years have helped to inflate the jackpot figures.
William Adelman hands his lottery tickets to cashier Maggie Duran at Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne, California
According to Powerball, right now the lump sum cash value is $422.3 million – before taxes. Uncle Sam charges a 24 percent withholding tax on lottery jackpot winnings, plus annual income taxes in the top bracket.
Depending on where a winning ticket is purchased, additional state and local taxes would take a bit out of any prize money.
Tim Chartier, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson College, doesn't bother with the Powerball or Mega Millions games. The odds are just too extreme, he says.
'Imagine I'm going to pick one second in the last 9.2 years,' he told the Daily Mail. 'Now, tell me which second I picked. That's the same odds to win.'
