Powerball players who were hoping to strike it rich with Wednesday night’s drawing came up empty-handed, leading to an estimated $725 million jackpot for this weekend’s drawing. The winning numbers for Wednesday were 16, 27, 59, 62, and 63, with a Powerball number of 23.
If there is a grand prize winner in Saturday’s drawing, they will have the option to receive the jackpot in graduated payments over 29 years or take a lump sum of approximately $345.7 million, according to the lottery.
The $725 million jackpot would make it the third-largest Powerball prize of the year, following a $754.6 million jackpot won in Washington state in February and the massive $1.08 billion jackpot won in California in July. This upcoming jackpot would also be the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history.
While no one won the top prize on Wednesday, over 1 million tickets did win some type of prize, although most of them were small amounts of $21 or less. However, two lucky tickets, sold in Georgia and Texas, won $2 million each for matching the first five numbers and activating a “power play” multiplier. Another ticket sold in Georgia won $1 million for matching the first five numbers without the multiplier.
Since the historic $1.08 billion jackpot was won in July, there have been 27 Powerball drawings without a winner. Prior to July, there had only been two Powerball jackpots that reached or surpassed $1 billion.
Powerball players across the country will be eagerly awaiting Saturday’s drawing, hoping that they will be the lucky ones to walk away with the enormous $725 million jackpot.