Did anyone win Wednesday’s $643M Powerball jackpot?

Powerball players have a chance at a $643 million jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing after a streak of no big winners continued this week. 

While the eye-popping prize is certainly life-changing money, it still wouldn’t crack the top 10 largest Powerball wins after several billion-dollar winners hit the jackpot over the past few years. 

The cash option for Wednesday’s jackpot is $290.6 million. That’s the option most winners take, as opposed to the full value paid out as an annuity. 

Players also have a chance to win $1 million, or $2 million with the Power Play option, if they match all five regular numbers but not the Powerball. 

Wednesday’s winning numbers were 31-59-62-65-68, Powerball 5. The Power Play was 2x. 

If a winner matched all five numbers and the Powerball, they have the option to take the full jackpot paid out over 30 years, or a smaller cash payout. Winners almost always take the cash option.

Even with the smaller lump sum payout, federal taxes will eat into those winnings, and some states also tax big lottery prizes. 

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million. The odds of matching all five white balls and winning the $1 million prize are 1 in 11,688,053. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.87.

The Powerball drawing takes place live at 10:59 p.m. ET every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets, which cost $2 per play, are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

1. $2.04 Billion – Nov. 7, 2022 – CA
2. $1.765 Billion – Oct. 11, 2023 – CA
3. $1.586 Billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – CA, FL, TN
4. $1.326 Billion – April 6, 2024 – OR
5. $1.08 Billion – July 19, 2023 – CA
6. $842.4 Million – January 1, 2024 – MI
7. $768.4 Million – March 27, 2019 – WI
8. $758.7 Million – Aug. 23, 2017 – MA
9. $754.6 Million – Feb. 6, 2023 – WA
10. $731.1 Million – Jan. 20, 2021 – MD