(Trends Wide) — Powerball players will try to win an estimated $1.2 billion jackpot on Wednesday night, which would be the second largest jackpot in the game’s 30-year history.
The jackpot has grown to that level in part because no one has won it for 38 consecutive drawings since the beginning of August.
If it stays at $1.2 billion, it would be the fourth largest US lottery jackpot and the second largest Powerball jackpot.
The leader in both categories was a $1.586 million Powerball jackpot shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016.
In second and third place for the largest US jackpots are a $1.537 million Mega Millions jackpot won in South Carolina in 2018 and a $1.337 million Mega Millions jackpot won by a ticket from Illinois this summer.
If a ticket wins Wednesday night’s drawing and the holder chooses the lump sum option, the ticket would yield a one-time payment of an estimated $596.7 million, Powerball says. Otherwise, the estimated $1.2 billion prize would be spread over 30 payments over 29 years.
The last Powerball grand prize was awarded to a ticket in Pennsylvania on August 3 for a $206.9 million jackpot.
