The Powerball jackpot now stands at $375 million after no one matched all six numbers in the June 3 drawing. If becoming an instant multi-millionaire sounds good, there's some bad news. The odds aren't in your favor that you'll cash in when the next drawing takes place on Wednesday, June 7. However, if you're holding out hope, here's a look at how much you will take home and what it takes to beat the odds.
Odds are worse than ever
For years, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot were 1 in 175 million. If you think that's bad, lottery officials decided to make it even harder to win in October 2015.
Since then, changes to the game made the odds almost unattainable — increasing the possibility of matching all five white balls and the red Powerball to 1 in almost 293 million. Yikes.
How did that happen? According to USA Today, more numbers were added to the white balls, giving players a choice of numbers 1 to 69 instead of 1 to 59. As a consolation prize, the number of red balls decreased from 35 to 26, making it easier to win a non-jackpot prize, including a whopping $4 for matching just the Powerball number.
$2 for a dream
Odds aside, people are still playing. After all, if you plunk down $2 for a ticket on Wednesday morning, you may end up a millionaire by Wednesday night. It's a great return on investment if you can beat the odds.
Drawings take place every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 pm. ET and, this week, all eyes will be on the official Powerball site when they post the winning numbers. There hasn't been a Powerball jackpot winners in almost two months, so the lottery frenzy is in full force with lines out the door at many convenience stores and lottery retailers.
After all, almost everyone has a dream when it comes to what they would do with their lottery windfall.
What about the non-jackpot prizes?
If you don't hit it big and win the jackpot, there are lots of other prizes to go around. In fact, on Saturday night, there were over 1.5 million players who won non-jackpot prizes ranging from $4 (just the Powerball) to $2 million.
One lucky ticket holder paid an extra $1 for the PowerPlay feature and doubled the $1 million prize (all five numbers) into a nice $2 million payday.
When is the next Powerball drawing?
The winning numbers for the $375 million Powerball jackpot will be drawn on Wednesday, June 7. The drawing is broadcast live on many local TV stations at 10:59 p.m. ET or online on WRAL's website.
Are you feeling lucky? What will you do with $375 million if you win?
