U.S. Powerball jackpot hits $1 billion ahead of Halloween night drawing

By Rich McKay

Oct 31 (Reuters) – The jackpot in Powerball’s Halloween
night drawing has surpassed $1 billion, making it one of the
richest prizes ever offered by one of the major U.S. lotteries.

If a single ticket holder has the series of numbers selected
in the drawing on Monday, the winner can chose to receive either
a one-time lump sum of $497.3 million in cash, or
multimillion-dollar annuity payouts stretched over 29 years,
according to lottery officials.

The current jackpot ranks as the second highest in the
game’s history behind a $1.585 billion top prize in 2016, which
was divided among three lucky ticket holders from California,
Tennessee and Florida.

The top prize, which will rise even higher if no one holds
the lucky numbers on Monday, is also the fifth-largest jackpot
for all major lotteries in the United States.

The drawing takes place just before 11 p.m. Eastern time.
Tickets cost $2.

Winners must guess all six lucky numbers including the final
“Powerball. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2
million, lottery officials said.

It is the sixth time in Powerball history that the jackpot
surpassed $700 million, including the $825 million prize offered
in a drawing on Saturday, when no ticket matched all six
numbers.

The last time that someone won the Powerball jackpot was on
Aug. 3, when a ticket holder from Pennsylvania claimed a $206
million prize. Since then, 37 drawings in a row have produced no
grand prize winner.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Sandra Maler)