Powerball Winning Numbers For 8/17/2019 Drawing: $149M Jackpot - Annapolis, MD Patch

The Powerball jackpot has reached $149 million for the winning ticket on Saturday, Aug. 17. The one-time cash payout for tonight's Powerball drawing will be $103.7 million.

The winning Powerball numbers are drawn every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time, with Powerball results usually posted within five minutes.

In most states, ticket sales halt at least one hour before the drawing, but a state is allowed to end sales earlier, such as Illinois, which stops sales three hours before the drawing. In Maryland and New Jersey, ticket sales end at 9:59 p.m.; in Virginia, they close at 10 p.m. Check with your state lottery for the cut-off time.

Check back later tonight for the winning Powerball numbers for Saturday, August 17.

The largest Powerball jackpot in history was $1.586 billion, which was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016.

A player in South Carolina claimed the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot on Oct. 23, 2018, game officials said; the winner chose not to be identified.

To win the Powerball jackpot a player must match all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball number. The odds of picking the correct Powerball grand prize numbers are one in 292,201,338, which doesn't change even if more players buy tickets when the jackpot is huge.

You have a better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot if you let the computer select your numbers, according to the officials with the lottery. About 75 percent of winning tickets over the years had numbers picked by a computer.

Powerball tickets cost $2 apiece. Find locations where you can buy your Powerball tickets here.

These are the five largest Powerball jackpots in the game's history:

$1.586 billion, Jan. 13, 2016
$768.4 million, March 27, 2019
$758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017
$688 million, Oct. 27, 2018
$590.5 million, May 18, 2013

Winners can choose to either have the full jackpot amount paid out in 30 installments over 29 years, or winners can take one lump sum payment that is smaller than the actual total.

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