Nobody Won $1 Million in Saturday's Powerball. Here's What That Prize Is Really Worth
Tonight's Powerball is $687M ($294.7M cash). Nobody won $1 million on Saturday. Here's what that Match 5 prize is worth after taxes, and the odds.
Jackpot Dreaming Editorial7 min read
Figures are the official Powerball estimates and results checked the morning of Oct. 26, 2026. Jackpot estimates can change before the drawing. Jackpot Dreaming isn't affiliated with Powerball or any lottery.
What happened Saturday
The numbers drawn on Saturday, Oct. 24 were 4, 5, 15, 19 and 55, with Powerball 19 and a 2X Power Play. Nobody matched all six, so the jackpot rolled again.
One small detail worth noticing. We wrote Saturday morning that the jackpot was advertised at $674 million. By drawing time, powerball.com's results page listed it at $665 million with a $285.2 million cash value. Jackpot figures are estimates built on expected sales, and they can move in either direction before the drawing. That's why we always say "estimated."
The more surprising line in Saturday's results was further down the prize chart. Here's the top of it, straight from powerball.com:
| What matched | Prize | Winners | With Power Play | Power Play winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 white balls + Powerball | Jackpot | 0 | Jackpot | 0 |
| 5 white balls | $1,000,000 | 0 | $2,000,000 | 0 |
| 4 white balls + Powerball | $50,000 | 25 | $100,000 | 5 |
| 4 white balls | $100 | 644 | $200 | 227 |
A drawing with zero Match 5 winners doesn't happen every time. For context, the Missouri Lottery's fact sheet for Saturday said this jackpot run had already produced 22 winning Match 5 tickets and six Match 5 + Power Play tickets before that drawing. Saturday added none.
Tonight is the 32nd drawing of the run. The jackpot was last won on Aug. 12, 2026, by a single ticket in Illinois worth $1.04 billion.
The prize most people forget about
When the jackpot gets this big, nobody talks about the second prize. That's a little odd, because it's the one a ticket buyer is far more likely to land.
Match all five white balls and miss the red Powerball, and you win $1 million. It's a set cash prize in every Powerball state except California, where lower-tier prizes are pari-mutuel and depend on sales and the number of winners. There's no annuity option for it. Powerball says all lower-tier prizes are set cash amounts, so you get it as one payment.
If you added Power Play for an extra $1, the Match 5 prize becomes $2 million. That's true no matter which multiplier is drawn. Saturday's multiplier was 2X, and a Match 5 + Power Play ticket would still have paid $2 million, the same as on a 5X night.
The odds, in plain numbers
Powerball lists the Match 5 odds at 1 in 11,688,053.52 per $2 play. The jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338. Divide one by the other and you get exactly 25. So hitting the $1 million prize is 25 times more likely than hitting the jackpot. It's still extremely unlikely, it just isn't jackpot unlikely.
Put another way, the Match 5 tier is worth about 8.6 cents of each $2 ticket before tax ($1 million divided by 11,688,053.52). After federal tax in a no-income-tax state, that drops to roughly 5.8 cents. We walk through the whole ticket's math in our odds explainer.
What a $1 million winner actually keeps
This is where a lot of people get surprised. The lottery withholds 24% for federal tax on prizes over $5,000, per the IRS. But a $1 million prize lands mostly in the top federal bracket, which is 37% on taxable income above $640,600 for a single filer in 2026.
Using our calculator and the 2026 brackets, a sole winner filing single with no other income and the $16,100 standard deduction would owe about $320,000 in federal income tax. Only $240,000 comes out at the claim office. That leaves roughly $80,000 still due when they file. Spend the check like it's all yours and April can hurt.
Here's what a single filer would keep after federal and state income tax in a few states, by our calculator's estimate:
| Where the ticket is claimed | Federal tax | State tax | Keeps from $1 million | Keeps from $2 million (Power Play) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas or Florida (no state income tax) | $320,000 | $0 | $680,000 | $1,310,000 |
| California (doesn't tax lottery prizes) | $320,000 | $0 | $680,000 | $1,310,000 |
| Arizona (2.5%) | $320,000 | $25,000 | $655,000 | $1,260,000 |
| Ohio (2.75%) | $320,000 | $27,500 | $652,500 | $1,255,000 |
| Pennsylvania (3.07%) | $320,000 | $30,700 | $649,300 | $1,248,600 |
| Illinois (4.95%) | $320,000 | $49,500 | $630,500 | $1,211,000 |
For the $2 million prize, federal tax comes to about $690,000 against $480,000 withheld, so the gap at filing grows to around $210,000. A California Match 5 prize may not be exactly $1 million, because of the pari-mutuel rule above, so treat that row as an example.
A few honest caveats. These numbers assume no other income, no itemized deductions and a single filer. Married couples, people with big salaries, and anyone who deducts gambling losses will land somewhere else. Some cities add their own tax too. A real tax pro should run your actual numbers before you spend a dime.
And the jackpot itself?
For completeness, here's tonight's big prize. Taking the $294.7 million cash option as a sole winner filing single, our calculator estimates you'd keep about $185.7 million after federal tax in a state that doesn't tax the prize, or about $178.3 million in Arizona. The federal bill alone is roughly $109.0 million, with about $70.7 million withheld up front.
We've broken that down state by state in our after-tax guide, and the lump sum versus annuity question gets its own explainer. If it gets won tonight, our claim deadline guide covers how long the winner has to come forward.
$687 million still isn't in Powerball's all-time top 10, where the No. 10 spot is $768.4 million from March 2019, per the Missouri Lottery's list. Whether it gets there depends on how many more drawings go by without a winner, and nobody can predict that.
If you do hit five numbers
Most of the advice for jackpot winners applies at $1 million too, just on a smaller scale. Sign the back of the ticket. Keep it somewhere safe. Check your state lottery's claim rules and deadline, because they vary by state. And set aside money for the tax gap before you buy anything. A million dollars is life changing for most people, but after tax it's closer to two thirds of that, and the IRS will want it's share in full.
If you play tonight, keep it to an amount you'd happily spend on a night out. The odds don't care how big the jackpot is.
FAQ
What is the Powerball jackpot tonight?
The Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 Powerball jackpot is an estimated $687 million, with a cash value of $294.7 million, per powerball.com that morning. The drawing is at 10:59 p.m. ET.
Did anyone win $1 million in Saturday's Powerball?
No. Powerball's official results for Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 show no jackpot winner, no $1 million Match 5 winners and no $2 million Match 5 + Power Play winners. Thirty plays matched four white balls plus the Powerball.
What are the odds of winning $1 million in Powerball?
Matching all five white balls without the Powerball has odds of 1 in 11,688,053.52 per $2 play, per powerball.com. That's 25 times better than the jackpot odds of 1 in 292,201,338.
How much tax do you pay on a $1 million Powerball prize?
The lottery withholds 24% federal, or $240,000. A single filer with no other income would owe about $320,000 in federal tax for 2026 by our calculator's estimate, so roughly $80,000 more is due at filing. State tax depends on where you claim, from $0 in Texas, Florida and California to $49,500 in Illinois.
Does Power Play really double the $1 million prize?
Yes. With Power Play, a Match 5 prize is always $2 million regardless of the multiplier drawn, per powerball.com. In California, lower-tier prizes are pari-mutuel, so amounts there can differ.
Sources
- Powerball: Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 estimated jackpot $687 million, cash $294.7 million; drawings Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.
- Powerball, Oct. 24, 2026 draw result: numbers 4, 5, 15, 19, 55, Powerball 19, Power Play 2X; final jackpot $665 million, cash $285.2 million; no jackpot, $1 million or $2 million winners; 25 Match 4 + Powerball winners ($50,000) and 5 with Power Play ($100,000); 644 and 227 Match 4 winners.
- Powerball prize chart: set prizes and Power Play amounts, Match 5 + Power Play always $2 million, odds of 1 in 11,688,053.52 for Match 5 and 1 in 292,201,338 for the jackpot, lower-tier prizes paid as set cash amounts, California pari-mutuel rule.
- Missouri Lottery, Oct. 24 Powerball fact sheet: 31st drawing of the run; 22 Match 5 and six Match 5 + Power Play winners this run before Oct. 24; last won Aug. 12 in Illinois ($1.04 billion); Powerball top 10 list.
- 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 $1 million, $2 million and the $294.7 million cash option (2026 single-filer brackets; state rules as modeled in the calculator).
