DES MOINES, Iowa — Thanks to math and bad luck, lottery players will have another shot at a giant jackpot Wednesday night as a $730 million Powerball prize is on the line.
The Powerball jackpot is the fifth-largest ever, and it will come only a day after nobody won the even-larger Mega Millions prize, which now stands at $970 million.
It’s the first time both lottery jackpots have topped $700 million. The biggest prize was a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot won by three people in 2016.
No one has won either of the jackpots since mid-September, allowing the prizes to grow steadily for months. Such a long stretch without a winner is rare but also reflects the incredibly small odds of winning — one in 292.2 million for Powerball and one in 302.5 million for Mega Millions.