News writer
If you've been watching the Powerball climb week after week, you're not imagining things—it's been on a wild run. After more than 30 straight drawings without a winner, the jackpot has now soared past the half-billion mark, making it the biggest prize of 2025 so far. But how does it stack up against other massive jackpots from this year, or even last year? The numbers might surprise you.
Biggest Powerball jackpot of 2025 so far
The current Powerball jackpot continues to roll over, as we now have 32 drawings without a jackpot winner. This weekend's drawing on Saturday, August 16, 2025, will be for an estimated $565 million with a cash value of $255.3 million.
While the jackpot has passed the half-billion mark, it has also passed the biggest Powerball jackpot won in 2025. The biggest Powerball jackpot won in 2025 was on March 29, 2025, when one ticket in California matched all the winning numbers to win the $527 million jackpot.
California is hot, as the last jackpot win for Powerball also took place there, on May 31, 2025. The lucky winner matched all the winning numbers to take home a $205 million jackpot on that occasion.
How does this compare to 2024 for Powerball jackpots?
When comparing year-to-year, it looks like 2024 had a bigger year for Powerball jackpots. For 2025, these are the jackpot wins we have seen so far:
- May 31 – $205 million jackpot winner.
- April 26 – $167 million jackpot winner.
- March 29 – $527 million jackpot winner.
- January 18 – $329 million jackpot winner.
When looking back at 2024, here is a rundown of the jackpot wins for that year:
- December 27 – $256 million jackpot winner.
- October 23 – $478 million jackpot winner.
- August 19 – $44 million jackpot winner.
- August 12 – $214 million jackpot winner.
- July 3 – $139 million jackpot winner.
- June 10 – $223 million jackpot winner.
- May 6 – $215 million jackpot winner.
- April 6 – $1.33 billion jackpot winner.
- January 1 – $842 million jackpot winner.
While 2024 has some smaller wins spread out into the mix, they definitely had bigger overall jackpots. The biggest jackpot win in 2024 was for $1.33 billion, followed by $842 million, so this jackpot run has a while to go before reaching those numbers.
How does Mega Millions compare?
With lottery officials making changes to the Mega Millions game in 2025 to increase jackpot sizes, how does it compare to Powerball jackpots? Let's look at the 2025 and 2024 jackpot wins in comparison. Up first, 2025 wins:
- June 27 – $348 million jackpot winner.
- April 18 – $112 million jackpot winner.
- March 25 – $349 million jackpot winner.
- January 17 – $112 million jackpot winner.
The current jackpot for Mega Millions stands at $198 million for the Friday, August 15, 2025, drawing. As for 2024, these are the jackpot wins for that year:
- December 27 – $1.27 billion jackpot winner.
- September 10 – $810 million jackpot winner.
- June 4 – $552 million jackpot winner.
- March 26 – $1.13 billion jackpot winner.
While no Mega Millions jackpots in 2025 have gotten as high as this current Powerball jackpot, they did have some huge jackpot wins in 2024. With only four jackpot wins total, almost every win was more than this current jackpot run for Powerball players.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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