The Powerball jackpot has jumped to an eye-popping $1.7 billion, after the 46th drawing passed without a big winner.
The numbers drawn Monday night were 3, 18, 36, 41, 54 and the Powerball 7.
Since Sept. 6, there have been 46 straight drawings without a big winner.
The next drawing will be Christmas Eve on Wednesday, with the prize expected to be the 4th-largest in U.S. lottery history.
"Once in a while, if, if sales go absolutely faster than predicted, they'll raise the jackpot, but right now it's estimated at $1.7 billion and that would be a $781 million cash value, which was just crazy money," says the Minnesota State Lottery's Vicki Holets. "So we think that that will stay."
Powerball tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in Minnesota and 44 other states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week.
The estimated $1.6 billion jackpot goes to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for Monday night’s drawing would be an estimated $735.3 million.
Holets does say that even if you don't win the big money, there are still some significant smaller prizes that people are winning with each drawing.
"We had two $50,000 winners last night in Minnesota," Holets adds. "One was sold at a Casey's in Little Falls, and the other was at Speedway in Maple Grove."