Powerball keeps building with no winner Monday

It’s a great time to live near the Utah border for south Idaho communities, as the Powerball jackpot continues to increase.  Great for everything other than traffic and lines, that is.  As Monday’s $1.3 billion jackpot went unclaimed, the value is certain to explode for Wednesdays next drawing.

The current jackpot is fifth on the all-time list, with last year’s $1.33 billion won by an Oregon player (fourth on the list) probably already passed by the Tuesday afternoon.  The top three jackpot totals were $2.04 billion in 2022, which was won in California, a $1.765 billion jackpot won in California in 2023, and a $1.586 billion jackpot won in California, Florida, and Tennessee.

A full jackpot winner would need to match all five numbers and the Powerball number, which has odds (as of Tuesday) of roughly 1 in 293 million.  A winner would have the option of an annuity that paid out a portion every year, or a one time (heavily taxed) payout of $498.4 million.  No small potatoes, either way.

Just in case you have a ticket lying around, the numbers drawn on Monday were 8,23,25,40,53, and a Powerball of 5.  The Power Play was 3.  A number of people won multi-million dollar payouts, but there were no reported winners of the jackpot.

The next drawing will be Wednesday, September 3, at 8:59 p.m. local time.  If there is no winner on Wednesday, the drawings will continue on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays until the jackpot is claimed.  

The value of the jackpot tends to escalate rapidly once it passes one billion and several unclaimed drawings occur.  Businesses all around Idaho, but especially across the line from Utah, which doesn’t allow Powerball sales, have reported brisk business, which will likely only increase until the fever is broken.