---
title: "Powerball reaches $538 million: odds, draw times and what a winner keeps"
url: https://badiyaa.com/powerball-538-million-jackpot-odds-draw/
published: 2026-10-13T05:54:21+01:00
modified: 2026-10-13T05:54:23+01:00
section: Lifestyle
publisher: Badiyaa
---

# Powerball reaches $538 million: odds, draw times and what a winner keeps

No ticket matched all six numbers on Saturday 10 October, lifting Powerball's estimated top prize to $538 million. The odds of winning it stay fixed at 1 in 292.2 million.

Powerball’s estimated jackpot climbed to $538 million for the drawing on Monday 12 October, after no ticket matched all six numbers on Saturday 10 October. That Saturday draw still produced a $1 million second-tier winner. Most of the big prizes in this run, though, have gone to nobody.

The next scheduled drawing is on Wednesday 14 October at 10:59pm Eastern time. If Monday’s draw produced no jackpot winner, the prize rolls over and grows again for Wednesday. If someone did win, the jackpot resets to its $20 million starting level. Before buying, check the current advertised figure with your state lottery.

## The odds, in plain numbers

Each $2 play picks five white balls from 69 and one red Powerball from 26. There are 292,201,338 possible combinations, so a single ticket has a 1 in 292,201,338 chance of taking the jackpot. Those odds don’t change with the size of the prize. They also hold from one draw to the next. Buying ten tickets gives you ten chances in that same pool of roughly 292 million.

The smaller prizes are far more reachable. Matching the red Powerball alone returns $4, and the game’s overall odds of winning any prize are about 1 in 25. Most of those wins are the $4 and $7 tiers, so they rarely cover what a regular player spends.

## Why $538 million is not $538 million

The advertised jackpot is an annuity figure: the total paid out over 30 graduated instalments across 29 years, each one 5% larger than the one before. A winner can instead take a one-time cash payment, which equals the money actually in the prize pool. That lump sum is always much smaller than the headline figure, and it is published alongside the jackpot estimate before each draw.

Tax comes next. Lottery operators withhold 24% for federal income tax on prizes over $5,000. A prize of this size puts the winner in the 37% top federal bracket, so the withholding usually falls short of the final bill. State tax depends on where the ticket was bought and where the winner lives. Several states, among them Florida, Texas and Washington, have no state income tax, while others take a share on top.

## Practical points before you play

Powerball is sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Sales usually close one to two hours before the draw, depending on the state. The optional Power Play add-on costs $1 more per play and multiplies non-jackpot prizes; it never increases the jackpot itself.

Sign the back of a paper ticket once you have bought it, and keep it somewhere safe. Claim deadlines are set state by state, typically between 90 days and a year after the draw. Many states also require prizes above a set amount to be claimed in person at a lottery office.

The numbers for Wednesday’s draw will be chosen at 10:59pm Eastern on 14 October. The next draws after that fall on Saturday 17 October and Monday 19 October.

## Further reading

- [Wikipedia: Powerball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerball)

- [Wikipedia: Multi-State Lottery Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-State_Lottery_Association)

*Image: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons*

*This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](/editorial-policy/).*