Powerball players participate in Christmas Eve drawing
NEW YORK (NBC, KYMA) - A Christmas Eve Powerball drawing could add new meaning to holiday cheer as millions of players hope to cash in on the $1.7 billion prize, which comes after months without a jackpot winner.
The fourth-largest jackpot on record comes after 46 consecutive draws without someone claiming to have all six numbers.
The last contest with a jackpot winner was on September 6, and the game's long odds have people decking the halls and doling out $2, and sometimes more, for tickets ahead of Wednesday night's live drawing at 10:59 p.m. Eastern.
It's a sign the game is operating as intended.
Lottery officials made the odds tougher in 2015 as a mechanism for snowballing jackpots, all the while making it easier to win smaller prizes.
The Christmas holiday is not expected to impact the drawing process should there be a winning ticket, a Powerball spokesperson said.
Powerball is played in 45 states, along with Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Most of those areas require players to be 18 or older, though some states have steeper requirements.
In Nebraska, players have to be at least 19-years-old, and in Louisiana and Arizona, people can't buy tickets until they are 21.
Winning tickets also must be cashed in the states where they were bought, and players can't buy tickets in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada or Utah.
Other than that, lottery officials argue there is a chance a lucky powerball ticket could be a gift that keeps on giving.
Wednesday's $1.7 billion jackpot has a cash value of $781.3 million.
A winner can choose to be paid the whole amount through an annuity, with an immediate payment and then annual payments over 29 years that increase by 5% each time.
Most winners, however, usually choose the cash value for a lump sum.
The odds are high for the top prize, but there are smaller prizes players can reap.
Lottery officials set the odds at 1 in 292.2 million in hopes that jackpots will roll over with each of the three weekly drawings until the pool balloons so much that more people take notice and play.
