Topline
The Powerball jackpot rose to $482 million—the year’s second biggest lottery prize so far—after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday night, although the eventual winner will take home a much smaller payout after paying their taxes.
The six numbers drawn on Wednesday night were 15, 27, 43, 45, 53, and red Powerball 9.
If a winner emerges in the next draw, they will have a choice between taking the $482 million spread over 30 annualized payments or a one-time lump sum cash payout of $218.9 million—usually the popular choice.
If the cash payout is chosen, the winnings will drop to $166.4 million after a mandatory federal withholding of 24% is applied.
The winner could then face a federal marginal rate as high as 37%, depending on their taxable income, further slashing their winnings to $137.9 million.
If the winner picks the installment route, their annual payments of around $16.1 million would drop to $10.1 million if the 37% federal marginal rate is applied.
The winner may also face additional taxes from their state of residence, as some states, such as New York, tax lottery winnings at 10.9%, while others, such as Texas, Florida, and California, don’t.
The next draw for the Powerball jackpot will take place on Saturday night. The next drawing for the Mega Millions lottery is set to take place on Friday, and the jackpot amount currently stands at $166 million.
If a winner emerges in the next few draws, they will take home the second biggest lottery prize of the year so far. The biggest was a Powerball jackpot of $526.5 million in March, won by a ticket buyer from California. The Powerball jackpot also recorded the biggest lottery prize last year when an Oregon resident won a jackpot worth $1.326 billion. The biggest Mega Millions jackpot of 2025 was a $349 million prize won by an Illinois resident in March.
The eventual winner will have to overcome astronomical odds of 1 in 292.2 million to win the Powerball jackpot. This is slightly worse than the Mega Millions jackpot, which has of 1-in-290.4 million. The Mega Millions used to have even worse odds than the Powerball lottery but the competition implemented some changes earlier this year that slightly improved the odds of winning both the jackpot and smaller prizes.
Powerball Jackpot Rises To $449 Million—Here’s What The Winner Could Take Home After Taxes (Forbes)