(NewsNation) — Two people played their cards right in Missouri and Texas Saturday night, winning the second-largest-in-history Powerball drawing, and they will split the $1.8 billion jackpot.
Numbers were selected late Saturday: 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and Powerball 17.
The prize ballooned to that near-historic sum after the lottery held more than 40 consecutive drawings without anyone matching six numbers. The lottery rolls over the winnings when no one hits the jackpot.
The game’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots and ever-larger prizes. The largest jackpot on record, $2.04 billion, was drawn in 2022 and went to a California ticket buyer.
More than 9.9 million tickets won cash prizes in last night’s drawing, according to a Powerball press release.
If there’s a winner, he or she can opt to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. But winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for this drawing would be an estimated $826.4 million.
Powerball tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Powerball jackpot resets to $20 million for the next drawing on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
