The Powerball payout chart has nine ways to win: the jackpot comes up 1 in 292,201,338 plays, and any prize at all comes up 1 in 24.87. Here is every Powerball payout next to the odds of winning Powerball at that tier.
| Match | Prize | Odds (1 in) | Winning combinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 + Powerball | Jackpot | 292,201,338.00 | 1 |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | 11,688,053.52 | 25 |
| 4 + Powerball | $50,000 | 913,129.18 | 320 |
| 4 | $100 | 36,525.17 | 8,000 |
| 3 + Powerball | $100 | 14,494.11 | 20,160 |
| 3 | $7 | 579.76 | 504,000 |
| 2 + Powerball | $7 | 701.33 | 416,640 |
| 1 + Powerball | $4 | 91.98 | 3,176,880 |
| Powerball only | $4 | 38.32 | 7,624,512 |
How the odds of winning Powerball are worked out
Powerball draws 5 white balls from 69 and 1 red Powerball from 26, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 pm ET. There are 11,238,513 ways to choose 5 white balls from 69. Each of those can pair with any of the 26 red balls, which gives 292,201,338 possible plays. One of them matches the draw, so the jackpot is 1 in 292,201,338 for every play under the current game.
Every other tier is counted the same way. Take Match 5 without the Powerball. A play needs all five white balls and any red ball except the one drawn. That is 25 ways out of 292,201,338, or 1 in 11,688,053.52.
Our computed odds match the official powerball.com chart on all nine tiers, to the two decimal places the chart prints. Each play has the same odds as any other. The number picked makes no difference to them. One exception sits in the prizes: in California the lower-tier prizes are pari-mutuel, so they depend on sales and winners there.
The chance of winning any prize
Add up all nine tiers and a play wins something 4.02% of the time, the 1 in 24.87 on the chart. The other side is plainer: 95.98% of plays win nothing.
Most of that 4.02% is small money. The two most frequent tiers, the Powerball alone at 1 in 38.32 and one white ball plus the Powerball at 1 in 91.98, both pay $4.
What a $2 ticket returns on average
Expected value is the average a play returns: each prize multiplied by its chance, summed over all nine tiers. Here it is for a $2 play, step by step.
| Step | Per $2 ticket |
|---|---|
| All non-jackpot prizes, each prize times its chance | $0.32 |
| Jackpot share at the $20 million annuity | $0.07 |
| Jackpot share at the $8.6 million cash value | $0.03 |
| Expected return, cash option, before tax | $0.35 |
| Expected return, cash option, after 24% federal withholding on prizes of $5,000 or more | $0.31 |
| Average loss per ticket, cash option, after withholding | $1.69 |
The jackpot and its cash value were read from powerball.com at 05:05 UTC on 5 November 2026, for the Saturday 7 November 2026 draw: $20 million advertised, $8.6 million cash, a cash share of 43.0%. The jackpot changes every draw, so the jackpot part of the return changes with it. The eight lower prizes add $0.32 per play whatever the jackpot is.
At this jackpot a $2 play returns $0.35 on the cash option before tax. Counted on the advertised annuity figure it is $0.39. The advertised jackpot is paid as 30 graduated payments over 29 years, so it cannot be compared with $2 paid today, and the expected value is counted on the cash value. Federal withholding on lottery prizes of $5,000 or more is 24%, per the IRS instructions for Form W-2G. After it, the cash return is $0.31, a loss of $1.69 per play.
The break point is a long way up. The cash jackpot at which a play’s expected value before tax reaches $2 is $490.9 million. After 24% withholding it is $658.9 million. Both assume one winner. A jackpot can be split among several winning plays, and every split cuts the jackpot part. Withholding is not the final tax bill, and state tax is not counted here.
The last draw showed how the jackpot resets. The Wednesday 4 November 2026 draw (15 34 41 53 56, Powerball 21) had one jackpot-winning play, in New Jersey, at an estimated $847 million jackpot with a cash value of $363.1 million, according to powerball.com. The jackpot then went back to $20 million for 7 November.
Power Play multipliers and their odds
Power Play costs $1 more per play and multiplies every prize below the jackpot. Match 5 with Power Play pays $2,000,000 at any multiplier.
| Match | 2x | 3x | 4x | 5x | 10x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| 4 + Powerball | $100,000 | $150,000 | $200,000 | $250,000 | $500,000 |
| 4 | $200 | $300 | $400 | $500 | $1,000 |
| 3 + Powerball | $200 | $300 | $400 | $500 | $1,000 |
| 3 | $14 | $21 | $28 | $35 | $70 |
| 2 + Powerball | $14 | $21 | $28 | $35 | $70 |
| 1 + Powerball | $8 | $12 | $16 | $20 | $40 |
| Powerball only | $8 | $12 | $16 | $20 | $40 |
The 10x multiplier is in play only when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less. At $20 million, it is in play for the 7 November draw, and the multiplier odds are out of 43: 24 in 43 for 2x, 13 in 43 for 3x, 3 in 43 for 4x, 2 in 43 for 5x and 1 in 43 for 10x. Above $150 million, 10x drops out and the odds are out of 42.
Each $1 of Power Play returns $0.50 on average with 10x in play, as at this draw. With the jackpot over $150 million and 10x out, it returns $0.46.
Double Play prizes
Double Play costs $1 and enters the same play in a separate draw, with the same 5 of 69 and 1 of 26 odds on every tier. Its top prize is $10 million, and 30 lotteries sell it.
| Match | Double Play prize | Odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + Powerball | $10,000,000 | 292,201,338.00 |
| 5 | $500,000 | 11,688,053.52 |
| 4 + Powerball | $50,000 | 913,129.18 |
| 4 | $500 | 36,525.17 |
| 3 + Powerball | $500 | 14,494.11 |
| 3 | $20 | 579.76 |
| 2 + Powerball | $20 | 701.33 |
| 1 + Powerball | $10 | 91.98 |
| Powerball only | $7 | 38.32 |
A $1 Double Play returns $0.53 on average. Its top prize is fixed, so that figure does not move with the main jackpot.
At the 7 November draw
At the 7 November draw, a $2 play returns $0.31 on average on the cash option after 24% withholding, a loss of $1.69.
Anyone who plays at 1 in 292,201,338 for the jackpot should set a limit first; our guide to responsible gambling shows how.
*Sources: powerball.com home page and prize chart, read 05:05 UTC on 5 November 2026; powerball.com draw result for 4 November 2026, read 05:05 UTC on 5 November 2026; powerball.com Double Play prize chart, read 02:21 UTC on 5 November 2026; IRS Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754, read 02:21 UTC on 5 November 2026.*