Powerball Is at $674 Million. Is It Big Enough to Make History?
Tonight's Powerball is $674M ($289.1M cash), the 31st drawing of this run. Where it ranks, why record jackpots keep coming, and what a winner keeps.
Jackpot Dreaming Editorial8 min read
Figures are the official Powerball estimates checked the morning of Oct. 24, 2026, plus the Missouri Lottery's fact sheet for tonight's drawing. Jackpot Dreaming is a personal project and is not affiliated with Powerball or any lottery.
Where the jackpot stands tonight
Nobody matched all six numbers on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The winning numbers were 1, 21, 44, 50 and 57, Powerball 5, with a 2X Power Play. Two Match 5 + Power Play tickets, one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania, won $2 million each, and a Match 5 ticket in New Jersey won $1 million.
Wednesday's jackpot finished at $639 million ($269.0 million cash) once sales were counted, a little above the $635 million estimate we wrote about that morning. The roll took it to $674 million for tonight.
One small wrinkle on the cash number. Some lottery news releases published Friday list the cash option at $283.9 million, while powerball.com shows $289.1 million on Saturday morning. Cash value is an estimate that moves with sales and with the interest rates used to price the annuity. We use powerball.com's current figure here. If you want the longer version of why that happens, we covered it in our post on how jackpots grow.
The Missouri Lottery's fact sheet adds some context:
- The jackpot was last won Aug. 12, when a single ticket in Illinois took $1.04 billion on the 44th drawing of its run.
- This run has already produced 22 Match 5 tickets and six Match 5 + Power Play tickets.
- Six Powerball jackpots have been won so far in 2026, with winning tickets sold in eight different states.
Powerball's all-time top 10
Here's the list as the Missouri Lottery published it for tonight's drawing. Amounts are the advertised annuity jackpots, not what anyone took home.
| Rank | Jackpot | Drawing | Where the winning ticket(s) sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2.04 billion | Nov. 7, 2022 | California |
| 2 | $1.817 billion | Dec. 24, 2025 | Arkansas |
| 3 | $1.787 billion | Sept. 6, 2025 | Missouri, Texas |
| 4 | $1.765 billion | Oct. 11, 2023 | California |
| 5 | $1.586 billion | Jan. 13, 2016 | California, Florida, Tennessee |
| 6 | $1.326 billion | April 6, 2024 | Oregon |
| 7 | $1.08 billion | July 19, 2023 | California |
| 8 | $1.04 billion | Aug. 12, 2026 | Illinois |
| 9 | $842.4 million | Jan. 1, 2024 | Michigan |
| 10 | $768.4 million | March 27, 2019 | Wisconsin |
So tonight's $674 million sits about $94.4 million short of the No. 10 spot. Not on the board, but not far off either.
How long could it take to get there?
This part is pure speculation, so take it lightly. The jackpot went from $639 million to $674 million over the last roll, a jump of $35 million. If it kept climbing by about that much each drawing, which nobody can promise, it would need roughly three more drawings without a jackpot winner to pass $768.4 million. Any single winning ticket ends the run, and the next estimate isn't set until after tonight's results are in.
Why the records keep coming
Look at the dates in that table. Every one of them falls after October 2015, and eight of them land in November 2022 or later. There's two changes that explain a lot of that.
1. The 2015 redesign made the jackpot harder to hit
Starting with the Oct. 7, 2015 drawing, Powerball switched from picking five of 59 white balls and one of 35 red balls to five of 69 and one of 26. According to Powerball's announcement at the time, jackpot odds went from 1 in 175.22 million to 1 in 292.20 million, while the odds of winning any prize improved from 1 in 31.85 to 1 in 24.87.
Longer jackpot odds mean more drawings, on average, before someone hits. More drawings means more rollovers. Three months later, in January 2016, the jackpot reached $1.586 billion, still No. 5 on the list today.
2. A third weekly drawing arrived in 2021
Powerball added a Monday drawing on Aug. 23, 2021. The Powerball Product Group said at the time that it expected the change to "result in larger, faster-growing jackpots," according to Powerball's release. The odds and set prizes stayed the same. It just meant three chances a week to roll over instead of two.
Plenty of other things move jackpots too, like ticket sales, interest rates and, as of this summer, UK players. We can't pin any single record on one cause. But the timing of those two rule changes lines up with the top 10 pretty well.
What $674 million actually means for a winner
Headlines rank jackpots by the annuity figure. Almost every big winner takes cash, and then the tax bill arrives. For a sole winner of tonight's $289.1 million cash option, filing single with no other income, our calculator estimates:
| Where the ticket was bought | Withheld at claim | Kept after the full tax bill |
|---|---|---|
| Texas, Florida, California (no state tax on the prize) | $69,384,000 | $182,183,000 |
| Arizona (2.5%) | $76,611,500 | $174,955,500 |
| Ohio | $77,334,250 | $174,232,750 |
| Illinois (4.95%) | $83,694,450 | $167,872,550 |
| New York City | $112,101,416 | $139,466,456 |
The IRS requires 24% federal withholding on lottery prizes over $5,000, but a prize this size is taxed mostly at 37%. That leaves roughly $37.5 million more federal tax due at filing, beyond what was withheld at claim, in each of those rows. We break down every state in our after-tax guide.
The annuity is the full $674 million spread over 30 payments that grow 5% a year. In our model the first check is about $10.1 million before tax and the last is about $41.8 million. Whether that beats the cash depends a lot on future tax rates, which is the bet we walked through in our annuity post.
The part that doesn't change
Bigger jackpot, same odds. Tonight's chance of hitting it with one $2 play is 1 in 292,201,338, exactly what it was at $20 million. A bigger prize makes for better headlines and more buyers. It doesn't make any single ticket more likely to win, and more tickets sold also raises the chance that a winner has to split the prize. We did the math on that in our odds explainer.
If you play tonight, spend what you'd happily spend on a movie and a snack. And if it does get won, check where it lands on the list above. It won't crack the top 10 tonight, but it's already the second-biggest Powerball jackpot of 2026.
FAQ
What is the Powerball jackpot tonight?
The Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 Powerball jackpot is an estimated $674 million, with a cash value of $289.1 million, per powerball.com that morning. The drawing is at 10:59 p.m. ET.
Is $674 million one of the biggest Powerball jackpots ever?
Not yet. It's outside Powerball's all-time top 10, where the No. 10 jackpot is $768.4 million from March 27, 2019. It is the second-largest Powerball jackpot offered in 2026, behind the $1.04 billion won in Illinois on Aug. 12.
What is the biggest Powerball jackpot ever?
$2.04 billion, won by a single ticket sold in California on Nov. 7, 2022. It's also the largest U.S. lottery jackpot on record, per the Missouri Lottery's list.
Why are Powerball jackpots so much bigger than they used to be?
Two rule changes help explain it. In October 2015 the jackpot odds went from about 1 in 175 million to 1 in 292.2 million, which tends to mean longer runs. In August 2021 Powerball added a third weekly drawing on Mondays. Ticket sales and interest rates also matter, so no single cause explains any one record.
How much would a $674 million Powerball winner take home?
Taking the $289.1 million cash option as a sole winner filing single, about $182.2 million after federal tax in a state that doesn't tax the prize, or about $175.0 million in Arizona, by our calculator's estimate. Actual taxes depend on your full situation.
Sources
- Powerball: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 estimated jackpot $674 million, cash $289.1 million; Oct. 21 numbers 1, 21, 44, 50, 57, Powerball 5, Power Play 2X, no jackpot winner, $2 million winners in Ohio and Pennsylvania, $1 million winner in New Jersey; drawings Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.
- Powerball, Oct. 21, 2026 draw result: final jackpot $639 million, cash $269.0 million.
- Missouri Lottery, Oct. 24 Powerball fact sheet: 31st drawing of the run; second-largest Powerball jackpot offered in 2026; last won Aug. 12 in Illinois ($1.04 billion, 44th drawing); 22 Match 5 and six Match 5 + Power Play winners this run; six jackpots won in 2026 in eight states; Powerball top 10 and U.S. record jackpots.
- North Carolina Education Lottery, Oct. 23, 2026: Friday release listing a $283.9 million cash option for Saturday.
- Powerball game change announcement, 2015: new 5/69 + 1/26 matrix from Oct. 7, 2015; jackpot odds 1 in 175.22 million to 1 in 292.20 million; overall odds 1 in 31.85 to 1 in 24.87.
- Powerball, Aug. 19, 2021: Monday drawing launched Aug. 23, 2021; expected "larger, faster-growing jackpots"; odds and set prizes unchanged.
- IRS Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754: 24% federal withholding on lottery winnings over $5,000.
- IRS 2026 inflation adjustments: 37% rate above $640,600 (single), $16,100 standard deduction.
- Jackpot Dreaming calculator: after-tax estimates for the $289.1 million cash option and the 30-payment annuity model (2026 single-filer brackets; state and New York City rules as modeled in the calculator).
