US lottery jackpots used to never reach $1 billion. They’ve done it 12 times in the last 5 years

(CNN) — Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing went without a jackpot winner, pushing the top prize to an estimated $1 billion for Saturday. It’s the second largest of this year, lagging only the $1.787 billion Powerball jackpot in September, claimed by two winners in Missouri and Texas.

If it seems like jackpots have been getting larger over the past few years, they have. The first US lottery jackpot over $1 billion came in 2016, when winners in Florida, California and Tennessee split a $1.586 billion Powerball prize. The current Powerball jackpot will be the 14th ever top US lottery prize of at least $1 billion, and the 12th since January 2021.

Powerball and Mega Millions, the two largest lottery games in the United States, have been trying to garner larger jackpots. Here’s how:

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