Powerball Makes History as Jackpot Dodges Players Again, Prize Swells to $1.7 Billion

Powerball Makes History as Jackpot Dodges Players Again, Prize Swells to $1.7 Billion

After players failed to win the game's top prize on Wednesday night, Saturday's Powerball drawing will go down in history.

On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, the Powerball numbers were 3, 16, 29, 61, 69, and the red Powerball was 22. No ticket had all six digits on it.

The 41st Powerball drawing in a row without a jackpot was held on Wednesday. That tied the previous jackpot drought in the game, which lasted until April 6, 2024, with 41 drawings.

A new record will be set on Saturday, which is the 42nd Powerball drawing in this unprecedented run. When the next six Powerball numbers are drawn live from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee on Thursday through Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET, Multi-State Lottery Association officials anticipate increased sales.

The cash option for the September 6 drawing is $770.3 million, and the anticipated annuitized jackpot is $1.7 billion. Both sums are before possible state and federal taxes. In Powerball and US lottery history, the $1.7 billion prize comes in third place.

Top-10 Lottery Jackpots — Game — Where Prize Won

1. Powerball — $2.04 Billion — Nov. 7, 2022 — CA
2. Powerball — $1.765 Billion — Oct. 11, 2023 — CA
3. Powerball — $1.7 billion (estimated) — Sept. 6, 2025 — ??
4. Mega Millions — $1.6 billion — Aug. 8, 2023 — FL
5. Powerball — $1.58 billion — Jan. 13, 2016 — CA, FL, TN
6. Mega Millions — $1.53 billion — Oct. 23, 2018 — SC
7. Mega Millions — $1.35 billion — Jan. 13, 2023 — ME
8. Mega Millions — $1.33 billion — July 29, 2022 — IL
9. Powerball — $1.32 billion — April 7, 2024 — OR
10. Mega Millions — $1.26 billion — Dec. 27, 2024 — CA

Near Misses

On Wednesday night, the Powerball jackpot eluded participants, but the drawing nevertheless produced a number of payments that might change people's lives.

All five white balls were matched in 15 plays. Four of the tickets featured the optional $1 Power Play add-on, which doubled their payouts to $2 million, while eleven of those tickets won $1 million apiece. California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming sold the Match 5 victories.

117 Match 4 + PB victories earned $50,000. The Powerball Play allowed another thirty-six to multiply their winnings to $100,000.

Across all reward tiers, there were 6,328,933 winning tickets. Most of them, 4,633,418, just got their $2 wager refunded. 

Educators Win $1 Million

One of the most memorable tales from this Powerball run is the Ohio elementary school teachers who won $1 million in the drawing on August 6.

The Powerball pool consists of ten school employees, but one of them passed away from cancer six years ago. The club has continued to cover the cost of her ticket and provide her kids any prizes.

"She’s been our guardian angel. She taught kindergarten here for years,” the pool organizer told CBS 10.

Each contestant will receive roughly $72K from the $1 million prize after federal and state taxes.