One Powerball ticket in Arizona hit all the right numbers Wednesday night, giving one lucky player a $473.1 million jackpot after the prize rose above earlier estimates.
The winning numbers Wednesday were 11, 36, 61, 62, and 68 with a Powerball of 4.
The lucky winner will have the choice to take the $473.1 million prize via the annuity option, which means it is paid out over 29 years. Nearly every big winner takes the cash option, a lump sum payment of $283.3 million. Both prize options are subject to taxes.
After no winning ticket won the jackpot in the prior drawing Monday, strong ticket sales rocketed up the final figure for Wednesday’s winning ticket — the third of 2022.
While there was just one mega-winner, more than 1.4 million tickets also won cash prizes in the Wednesday night drawing, including a ticket from Indiana that matched all five white balls and won $1 million.
On Jan. 5, two tickets in California and Wisconsin split a $632.6 million jackpot – the seventh-largest prize in Powerball history. Then, in the Feb. 14 drawing, a ticket in Connecticut won a $185.3 million jackpot. Up before Wednesday, there were 30 drawings in a row without a jackpot winner.
The longer the game goes without a grand prize winner, the larger the payout will grow.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of winning the jackpot is one in 292.2 million.
Drawings are held each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.
