By Elisha Fieldstadt -
NBC News
The accumulated Powerball for next Saturday's draw reached 1,600 million dollars, a world record, according to those responsible for the lottery.
The jackpot got so big because
the last time someone won it was on August 3
, three months ago.
The winning ticket at the time was sold in Pennsylvania.
Once again, on Wednesday no one matched all five numbers: 02-11-22-35-60 with the 23 Powerball.
Powerball ballots are seen at Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Jae C. Hong/AP/AP
However, 16 tickets matched all five white balls and won $1 million, lottery officials said.
In all, 7.2 million tickets won cash prizes in Wednesday's drawing, totaling $74.9 million.
The new record dwarfs the previous record of $1.586 million
earned by people from three states in 2016.
If no one wins on Saturday, the record for consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner will be tied at 41 drawings.
The longest jackpot streak in Powerball history ended on October 4, 2021. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
[Future millionaires? This is the Powerball winning formula that put $1 billion on the line]
The cash value of a $1.6 billion jackpot is $782.4 million.
If the winner chose the cash option,
24% in federal taxes would be withheld
, about $187.8 million, CNBC reported.
People can buy tickets for 2 dollars.
They are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.