The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.25 billion, making it one of the largest prizes in the game’s history as hopeful players across the United States prepare for the Wednesday, December 17 drawing.

The jackpot grew after no ticket matched all six numbers in the December 15 drawing, leaving the top prize unclaimed and creating a renewed surge of ticket sales and public interest in the lottery.

The current jackpot figure is an annuity estimate that would be paid over several decades, with the immediate cash option substantially lower; lottery officials have said the lump-sum value is about $572.1 million before taxes.

This marks the second-largest Powerball jackpot of twenty twenty-five, behind a record $1.787 billion prize won earlier in the year and highlights continuing public enthusiasm for multistate lottery jackpots during the holiday season.

Despite the immense prize on offer, the odds of winning the jackpot remain extremely steep — approximately one in two hundred ninety-two million — underscoring the difficulty of matching all five white balls and the red Powerball.

Lottery organisers have maintained their standard draw schedule of Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and reminded participants that responsible play is essential, while confirming that smaller tier prizes were won in recent draws by players who matched subsets of the drawn numbers.

State lotteries across forty-five states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands sell Powerball tickets, with each play costing two dollars and an optional Power Play feature available for an extra one dollar to multiply non-jackpot winnings.

With the jackpot now at historic levels, anticipation is high for the night’s drawing, which will determine whether the long-unclaimed prize will finally be captured by a lucky ticket holder.