Labor Day Powerball Jackpot Climbs to $1.1 Billion, Lottery Game’s Fifth-Largest Prize
Posted on: September 1, 2025, 09:19h.
Last updated on: September 1, 2025, 09:19h.
- The Powerball jackpot has grown upwards of $1 billion
- Tonight’s top prize is an estimated $1.1 billion
- Your odds are dismal of winning the jackpot
The Powerball jackpot entered top-five territory after no ticket matched the six drawn numbers during the game’s Saturday drawing.
Today is Labor Day, with most Americans afforded the day off. Someone could win enough money tonight to never have to return to their 9 to 5.
Powerball has gone 39 drawings without a single play matching the five white balls and the red Powerball. The odds of doing so are 1 in 292.2 million.
The Powerball record for the number of drawings without a jackpot hit is 42, a run that ended on April 6, 2024, when a $1.326 billion prize was won in Oregon.
The jackpot for tonight is an estimated $1.1 billion, the game’s fifth-largest prize ever. Lottery officials peg the cash option at $498.4 million. Both amounts are before federal and possibly state taxes.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Unlike Mega Millions, which jacked up its basic play price from $2 to $5 earlier this year, a standard Powerball ticket remains at just two bucks.
Labor Day Sales
Powerball is likely to see an increase in ticket sales for the Sept. 1 drawing. As jackpots grow to such astronomical levels, sales typically surge, as the life-changing amounts bring in players who don’t regularly participate.
Being a holiday weekend should only further fuel play, as families and friends gather around the grill and chat about current affairs. Powerball will be a topic for many.
America has waited all year for the chance to play for a billion-dollar jackpot, and what better time than Labor Day for a $1.1 billion Powerball drawing,” said Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and the CEO of the Iowa Lottery. “With just one $2 ticket, you could win it all — all while helping to support good causes close to home.”
Of course, it’s far likelier that your $2 play won’t win it all. Your chances of being struck by lightning — not only once but twice — are significantly better. You’re also likelier to become president of the United States, win an Oscar, bowl a perfect 300 game, win an Olympic medal, and die in a plane crash.
So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance
Despite the grave Powerball odds, someone has to win, right? So, how can you improve your chances?
Tim Chartier, an applied mathematician with a focus in computer science at Davidson College, says buying more tickets does ever so slightly improve your chances of winning — assuming you play different numbers on each.
If you buy five tickets with different numbers, you are five times more likely to win than if you buy just one. But, keep in mind, this is like saying you need to flip heads 28 straight times. Try it. In fact, try it five times. Try it 100 times. You are amazingly unlikely to get it any single time. So, the odds are more likely but still very unlikely,” Chartier said in a 2023 article titled, “Magic Numbers: How to Tilt the Odds of Winning the Lottery in Your Favor.”
Chartier has an online tool where users can test their luck for free.
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