The Powerball group today announced it was boosting the estimated jackpot for this weekend’s multistate drawing from $550 Million to $570 Million (cash value $358.5 Million). The bump reflects strong sales across all 44 Powerball States plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The $570 Million Powerball jackpot will be drawn Saturday, Jan. 6 at 10:59 p.m.

News of the bump comes on the heels of an announcement earlier today by the Mega Millions consortium that it too was increasing the jackpot for its next next drawing scheduled for tonight. At midday, the Mega Millions group announced it was increasing tonight's jackpot to $450M, a $5 Million jump based on brisk sales across all participating lottery jurisdictions. Tonight's drawing will take place at 11 p.m.

The incidence of dueling Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots has increased significantly due to changes made to the Mega Millions game in October of 2017 aimed at providing players with a larger starting jackpot, bigger average jackpots and faster roll ups.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.27 billion in fiscal year 2016-2017 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery’s contribution represents approximately 14 percent of total state education aid to local school districts.

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.