October 27, 2026
Players in Florida and Georgia matched all five white balls in Monday's Powerball draw, winning $1 million each. The jackpot rolls to an estimated $716 million for Wednesday.
Monday night's Powerball drawing produced no jackpot winner again, but two ticket holders came very close. Players in Florida and Georgia matched all five white balls and missed only the red Powerball. Each of them is now $1 million richer. With nobody hitting the top prize, the jackpot rises to an estimated $716 million for Wednesday's drawing.
Drawing: Monday, October 26, 2026
Winning numbers: 18, 26, 49, 50, 54 – Powerball 1
Power Play: 3x
Jackpot on offer: $691 million (cash value $296.4 million)
Jackpot winners: none
Match 5 winners: 2 – Florida and Georgia, $1 million each
Match 4 + Powerball: 17 winners – 14 x $50,000 and 3 x $150,000
Next drawing: Wednesday, October 28 – estimated $716 million (cash $307.2 million)
So close to a nine-figure fortune
Monday's drawing offered an advertised jackpot of $691 million. A single winner could have taken it as an annuity paid over 30 years or as a lump sum of about $296.4 million before taxes.
The white balls drawn were 18, 26, 49, 50 and 54, and the red Powerball was 1. The Power Play multiplier was 3x. Two players matched all five white numbers but not the Powerball. Every Powerball player knows the odds are long, but missing a jackpot of this size by one red ball is a hard way to win a million dollars.
Neither winner had added Power Play. With it, a Match 5 prize is a fixed $2 million, so each winner missed out on another $1 million for an extra dollar on the ticket.
A busy night in the lower tiers
Further down the prize table, 17 players matched four white balls plus the Powerball. That tier normally pays $50,000, which 14 of them received. The other three had bought Power Play, and the 3x multiplier raised their prizes to $150,000 each.
Thousands of smaller prizes were won across the participating states, from the $4 prize for matching only the Powerball to the $100 prizes for three or four correct numbers.
Monday's top prizes
| Prize tier | Winners | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Jackpot (5 + PB) | 0 | $691 million (rolls over) |
| Match 5 + Power Play | 0 | $2,000,000 |
| Match 5 | 2 (FL, GA) | $1,000,000 |
| Match 4 + PB with Power Play | 3 | $150,000 |
| Match 4 + PB | 14 | $50,000 |
A run of million-dollar tickets
Even without a jackpot winner, Powerball has produced plenty of new millionaires in October.
- Saturday, October 24: no Match 5 winners, but 30 players matched four white balls plus the Powerball, winning between $50,000 and $100,000.
- Wednesday, October 21: a player in New Jersey won $1 million, while tickets in Ohio and Pennsylvania matched five with Power Play for $2 million each.
- Other recent Match 5 hits: $1 million winners in Michigan and Maryland.
Big jackpot runs tend to produce more secondary winners. As the top prize grows, ticket sales rise, more number combinations are covered, and more Match 5 and Match 4 + Powerball wins follow.
How Power Play works
Power Play is an optional add-on that costs $1 per play. Before each drawing, a separate multiplier is drawn: 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x. A 10x multiplier is only possible when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less. With Power Play, every non-jackpot prize is multiplied, except Match 5, which is always a fixed $2 million. The jackpot itself is never multiplied.
That is why three of Monday's Match 4 + Powerball winners received $150,000 instead of $50,000, and why the two Match 5 tickets each paid $1 million rather than $2 million. Monday's multiplier was 3x, so a player with three white balls and the Powerball would also have won $300 instead of $100.
Why the jackpot keeps growing
Powerball jackpots are funded from ticket sales. Part of every $2 play goes into the prize pool, and when nobody matches all six numbers, that money rolls over into the next drawing. The advertised figure is an estimate based on expected sales and current interest rates, which decide how large an annuity the cash pool can buy. As the jackpot grows, more people buy tickets, so it tends to grow faster with each rollover. That is why a $691 million prize on Monday became an estimated $716 million for Wednesday.
Powerball is sold in 45 US states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Players in all of those places are chasing the same jackpot.
Wednesday's jackpot: $716 million
The next drawing is on Wednesday, October 28, at 10:59 p.m. ET. Organisers estimate the jackpot at $716 million, with a cash value of $307.2 million. If it rolls again, the jackpot will move closer to the billion-dollar level last reached in some of the biggest US lottery runs.
Players should note the difference between the two figures. The advertised jackpot is the total of a 30-payment annuity: one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments, each 5% larger than the one before. The cash option is the money actually in the prize pool today. Most jackpot winners choose the lump sum, and both options are subject to federal tax and, in most states, state tax.
How long are the odds?
Powerball players choose five numbers from 1 to 69 and one red Powerball from 1 to 26. A play costs $2, and Power Play costs another $1. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
| Match | Base prize | Odds (1 in …) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + Powerball | Jackpot | 292,201,338 |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | 11,688,053 |
| 4 + Powerball | $50,000 | 913,129 |
| 4 | $100 | 36,525 |
| 3 + Powerball | $100 | 14,494 |
| Powerball only | $4 | 38.32 |
The overall odds of winning any prize are about 1 in 24.9. Matching five white balls, as the Florida and Georgia players did, is a 1-in-11.7-million event. They were extremely lucky, even though they just missed the jackpot.
What winners should do now
- Sign the back of the ticket and keep it somewhere safe. An unsigned ticket can be claimed by whoever holds it.
- Check the claim deadline: each state lottery sets its own deadline, usually between 90 days and one year.
- Plan for tax: prizes over $5,000 are subject to federal withholding, and the final tax bill can be higher. Florida has no state income tax on lottery prizes; Georgia does.
- Get advice from a financial and legal adviser before claiming a large prize.
The Florida and Georgia winners have not been named yet. The jackpot is still growing, and Wednesday night will show whether one ticket finally takes all of it.
Gambling involves risk and isn’t suitable for everyone — please only play with licensed operators, gamble responsibly, set your limits, and if it stops being fun, take a break.
