Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 12

Powerball Jackpot Hits $1 Billion for Wednesday Drawing as Cash Option Reaches $433.1 Million

Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 12

Powerball Jackpot Hits $1 Billion for Wednesday Drawing as Cash Option Reaches $433.1 Million

Q: With millions of British players joining the $1 billion draw, how likely are you to split the massive Powerball jackpot?

Your chance of having to split the jackpot is still very small, but it is higher than before because more tickets are now in the same top-prize pool. A single ticket’s odds of winning the Powerball jackpot do not change with British participation: they remain 1 in 292.2 million. What changes is the chance that someone else also hits the same winning numbers in the same drawing. That depends on how many total tickets are sold across the U.S. and U.K. and whether other players happened to choose the same combination. Even with millions of new U.K. players, a split jackpot remains unlikely in any one drawing because the game has 292,201,338 possible jackpot combinations. Historically, most Powerball jackpots are still won by a single ticket, and there are often no jackpot winners at all. Multiple winners do happen, but they are rare and usually become more plausible only when sales surge into the hundreds of millions of plays during blockbuster runs. The practical takeaway is this: British sales make the jackpot grow faster, but they do not materially change your own odds of winning with one ticket. They only modestly raise the chance that, if you do win, someone else could win too. The biggest factor in avoiding a split is not nationality but number choice: popular patterns such as birthdays or simple sequences may be more likely to be shared, while random Quick Pick-style combinations may be less likely to match another player’s exact line.

Q: As Powerball goes global to hit $1 billion, what international expansions are lottery officials planning next to boost sales?

Lottery officials have not announced any specific next country beyond the United Kingdom. What they have said is that the U.K. launch is the first step in Powerball’s international expansion and a test case for faster jackpot growth. The expansion was made through an agreement between the Multi-State Lottery Association and Allwyn UK, and officials have stressed that adding more players increases sales and helps jackpots climb more quickly without changing U.S. ticket prices or odds. The available reporting and official statements point only to a broader international strategy, not a confirmed timetable or target list of new markets. Powerball leaders have described the U.K. as the first non-U.S. lottery to join the shared jackpot pool, but they have not publicly named the next country or region they plan to add. What is clear is the model they would likely follow if they expand again: only the jackpot pool would be shared internationally, while lower-tier prizes would remain separate under each country’s local rules, currency and payout system. Officials also have emphasized that any future expansion would keep U.S. proceeds in their home jurisdictions and preserve the game’s existing format. So, for now, the answer is that no further international expansions have been officially announced; the U.K. rollout is the only confirmed move.

Q: Could a UK winner actually take home more of the $1 billion Powerball prize than an American due to tax differences?

Yes — a U.K. jackpot winner could net more than a U.S. winner from the same shared Powerball prize, largely because U.K. lottery winnings are not taxed as income while U.S. winnings are. But the comparison is not as simple as “£-based winner beats $-based winner.” The two countries advertise the jackpot differently. In the U.S., the headline $1 billion is a pre-tax annuity estimate, and an American winner can instead choose the much smaller cash option, currently estimated at $433.1 million before taxes. That cash prize would face 24% federal withholding immediately, and for a jackpot that large the winner would likely owe federal tax at the top 37% rate, with possible state taxes on top depending on where they live. In the U.K., the National Lottery displays a separate pound-denominated estimate and pays jackpot winners through an annuity. Reporting indicates the U.K. presentation is closer to a net figure, reflecting that British lottery prizes themselves are not subject to income tax. That means a U.K. winner may keep essentially the amount advertised in Britain, while a U.S. winner would keep far less than the American headline number after taxes. So in practical take-home terms, yes, a U.K. winner can come out ahead of many Americans. However, an American in a no-tax state who chose the annuity could still receive a very large after-tax total over time. The key point is that the shared jackpot pool is the same, but tax treatment and payout rules are not.

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 12

$1 billion is now at stake in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing after Monday's numbers produced no grand-prize winner.
The annuitized prize is the eighth-largest in Powerball history and the game's biggest jackpot so far in 2026; the lump-sum cash option stands at $433.1 million.
Monday's winning numbers were 6, 37, 54, 55, 64 and Powerball 10, extending the run without a jackpot winner since May 2, when Florida and Texas tickets split $20 million.
Powerball officials say 1-in-292.2 million odds are unchanged, but a broader player base — including U.K. participants — can help jackpots climb faster if Wednesday's prize goes unclaimed.