Powerball awards its $847 million jackpot to a New Jersey ticket

The November 4 Powerball drawing awarded the main jackpot to a ticket sold in New Jersey. The announced prize is $847 million and belongs to a single ticket, so it will not be divided among multiple winners. The outcome ended a run of 35 drawings without a jackpot winner. The amount ranks ninth among the largest jackpots in the game's history.

The five white numbers were 15, 34, 41, 53 and 56, with 21 as the red Powerball. The ticket also had the 2x Power Play activated, a feature that increases certain secondary prizes but does not change the jackpot. No one won the category requiring only the five white balls, which pays $1 million, or $2 million with Power Play.

The advertised $847 million is not paid in full at once: it consists of 30 payments over 29 years. The first payment is immediate, followed by 29 annual installments that increase by 5% each year. A winner choosing a single payment would receive a $363.1 million cash option before taxes.

Both figures are subject to taxes, so neither represents the winner's final net amount. The difference between the total installments and the cash option reflects the capital required to support the scheduled payments. The ticket holder had not been publicly identified in the initial reports.

The game holds three weekly drawings on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Each takes place at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, and a play normally costs $2. After the jackpot was awarded, the next drawing was scheduled for November 7, 2026; the estimated jackpot resets to $20 million, with a cash value calculated at $8.6 million.