Powerball drawing 12/20/23: Jackpot reaches $572M

Powerball jackpot soars above $500 million for Wednesday's drawing. Odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million. Don't miss out!

The Powerball jackpot has reached over $500 million for the upcoming drawing on Wednesday night, with the winning numbers from Monday being 5-8-19-34-39 and the Powerball number being 26. The Monday drawing resulted in over 500,000 winning tickets across the country, including two tickets in North Carolina and New York that matched all five white balls to win $1 million each.

This upcoming drawing will be the fifth Powerball jackpot to surpass $500 million this year. If a player wins the jackpot on Wednesday night, they will have the option to choose between an annuitized prize worth an estimated $572 million or a lump sum payment estimated at $286.7 million. The Powerball jackpot has been rolling over since the October 11 drawing, when a ticket in California won a grand prize worth $1.765 billion, the second-largest Powerball jackpot ever won.

The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9, while the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. Jackpot winners have the choice to take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years. It's important to note that both advertised prize options do not include federal and jurisdictional taxes. Powerball tickets are priced at $2 per play, and all winning tickets must be redeemed in the jurisdiction in which they are sold.

The 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold are as follows:

4. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets: California, Florida, and Tennessee)
5. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket: South Carolina)

For those interested in watching the New York state lottery drawings live, they are aired daily at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., as well as on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. Powerball drawings are streamed on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m., while Mega Millions drawings are streamed on Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m.

Sources for this information include AP archives, www.megamillions.com, and www.powerball.com. If you have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story that should be covered, you can send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. Terms of use apply if you are attaching a video or photo.