News writer, Interviewer
Saturday night’s Powerball drawing came and went. No one matched all six numbers. The jackpot now sits at an estimated $793 million, with a cash value of $339.9 million. The Halloween drawing was $760 million.
So how high will it go?
What happened on Halloween
The October 31st drawing was the 34th in the current cycle. Nobody has won the jackpot since August 12, when a single ticket sold in Illinois took home $1.04 billion.
Three tickets came close. One ticket in North Carolina matched five numbers and added Power Play, which turned a prize into $2 million. Tickets in Georgia and the U.K. each matched five numbers for $1 million.
Close, but not close enough.
A top 10 jackpot in the making
At $793 million, this run has passed the $768.4 million Wisconsin jackpot from 2019. That number held the number 10 spot on the all-time list. If someone wins at the current estimate, this jackpot would rank tenth. Only the $842.4 million Michigan prize from January 2024 would sit between it and the $1.04 billion Illinois win.
That would make it the second top 10 Powerball jackpot of 2026. The first came just a few months ago.
Is that a coincidence? Most likely yes. Jackpots grow when nobody wins, and nobody has won for nearly three months.
Why the run is so long
The odds explain it. The chance of hitting the jackpot is 1 in 292.2 million. The chance of winning any prize is 1 in 24.9.
Look at the rest of 2026. Six jackpots were won before August. Most were modest, between $20 million and $250 million. The big prize resets low after each win and has to climb again. Then it grows with every ticket sold.
But there's a new factor to this jackpot. For the first time, the jackpot cycle includes players from the United Kingdom contributing from the start. Every ticket sold adds equally to the pot, wherever it is sold. Could that wider pool push the jackpot higher, faster? It’s an interesting question. Sales were already rising before Saturday, according to Powerball Product Group Chair Stephen Durrell, who reported an uptick across all participating lotteries.
Annuity or lump sum?
A winner in a participating U.S. lottery has two choices.
- Annuity: 30 increasing payments over 29 years.
- Lump sum: one payment, currently estimated at $339.9 million.
Both jackpot amounts are before taxes. A U.K. winner would receive the cash value over 30 years through the U.K. National Lottery.
What comes next
The next drawing is tonight, Monday, November 2, at 10:59 p.m. ET. Powerball draws every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from its studio in Florida.
Will it be No. 35 without a winner? Every ticket carries the same odds, and every missed drawing makes the next jackpot bigger.
Check the official jackpot estimate at Powerball.com before you play. It changes with sales.
