An estimated $1.5 billion will be up for grabs just days before Christmas during the Dec. 20 Powerball, which will mark the 45th consecutive drawing in the current jackpot run.
The Powerball drawings are broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida.
During the live event, random selections are made of winning numbers for the lottery game, which is available in 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The six winning numbers for the Dec. 17 drawing were 25, 33, 53, 62, 66, and red Powerball 17.
Six tickets sold in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee matched all five white balls in Wednesday’s drawing, winning $1 million each before taxes.
Two tickets sold in Arizona and Massachusetts also matched all of the white balls, but scored $2 million for selecting the Power Play option—a $1 add-on that multiplies non-jackpot winnings by up to 10 times.
Among the smaller cash prizes, 72 tickets won $50,000 for matching four white balls and the red Powerball, and 14 tickets won $200,000 with the Power Play.
A ticket in Florida also won $500,000 from the Double Play round, which is livestreamed on Powerball.com after the main drawing. The $1 add-on gives players another chance to play their Powerball numbers in a separate drawing using a set of black balls and offers a top cash prize of $10 million.
Several Powerball play slips are seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. AP Photo/George Walker IV
The upcoming $1.5 billion jackpot now ranks as the fifth largest in all Powerball history, as well as the seventh largest among all lottery draw jackpot games nationwide, including the Mega Millions.
The $2.04 billion jackpot previously collected in Altadena, California, on Nov. 7, 2022, is the biggest to date, followed by the nearly $1.8 billion that was recently split by two players from St. Louis, Missouri, and Fredericksburg, Texas, on Sept. 6 of this year.
The Powerball’s grand prize hasn’t been won since then. Saturday’s historic big pot marks the second time in Powerball history that the game has produced back-to-back jackpots of more than $1 billion.
“This jackpot is set to deliver the ultimate windfall,” Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn said on Thursday. “The jackpot grows with every $2 ticket sold, and a portion of each ticket supports local public programs and services. We encourage everyone to have fun and play responsibly.”
Powerball jackpot winners have the option to receive their prize as either a cash lump sum, which in the upcoming draw would amount to an estimated $686.5 million, or an annuitized payout. If a player opts for the latter, they would receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by five percent each year.
According to Powerball, the overall odds of scoring any cash prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of taking home the jackpot are even slimmer at about 1 in 292.2 million.
