People across the country are hoping to start the new year with a couple more dollars in their bank accounts following Monday's Powerball drawing. Well, more like 540 million more dollars.
The magic number for the jackpot rose over the weekend after nobody was selected for Saturday's $518.7 million drawing.
And while the money keeps getting bigger, the chances of winning are pretty minuscule. The odds of winning all that money is one in 292.2 million. The odds of winning, in general, are 1 in 24.9. It's not uncommon to have months go by without a grand prize winner.
To put that into perspective, you have a better chance of being killed by a swarm of hornets, wasps or even bees. The National Safety Council estimated the odds of that happening are 1 in 54,093.
You could also end up in the emergency room with a pogo-related injury before winning the lottery. Your chances of bouncing your way into the ER are about 1 in 115,300, according to Deseret News.
Your odds of birthing conjoined twins are about 1 in 200,000, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Your odds of giving birth to normal identical twins? About 1 in 250.
Basically, we're just saying if you're getting that lotto ticket for tonight's jackpot, good luck.
Curious about the largest jackpot ever? Powerball says it holds the world record for largest jackpot. The record $1.586 billion payout, set in 2016, was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Here are the 10 largest Powerball payouts, according to the lottery.
- $1.586 Billion – Jan. 13, 2016
- $768.4 Million – March 27, 2019
- $758.7 Million – Aug. 23, 2017
- $731.1 Million – Jan. 20, 2021
- $699.8 Million – Oct. 4, 2021
- $687.8 Million – Oct. 27, 2018
- $590.5 Million – May 18, 2013
- $587.5 Million – Nov. 28, 2012
- $564.1 Million – Feb. 11, 2015
- $559.7 Million – Jan. 6, 2018
