Powerball Pot At Record $800 Million — And Growing

By Laura Wagner / NPR

Published January 8, 2016 at 12:08 PM PST

This story was published more than 8 years ago.

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Forty-four states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, participate in the Powerball lottery.

The Powerball lottery was at a record high of $800 million on Friday, and the jackpot could get far richer.

Before the next drawing on Saturday night, experts say the Powerball could top $1 billion.

"We could be on the verge of creating the first lottery billionaire," Gordon Medenica, director of the Maryland Lottery, told The Washington Post.

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The odds of winning this pot, which so far comes out to $496 million before taxes, are 1 in 292 million.

The previous lottery record was a $656 million Mega Millions payout in 2012, according to CNN Money.

The televised drawings for Powerball are held every Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 p.m. ET. After no one claimed the winning numbers on Wednesday, ticket sales soared.