The odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot are more than 292 million to 1. A player who buys a $2 ticket has about a 1 in 11,688,053 chance to match five numbers (but not the Powerball) and win a second prize of at least $1 million.

Big lottery wins around the U.S. include a lucky lottery ticketholder in California who won a $1.27 billion Mega Millions jackpot in December 2024. See more big winners here. And if you do end up cashing a jackpot, here’s what experts say to do first.

"It truly is luck," she told the Virginia Lottery in a Sept. 25 news release. The winner got richer after stopping at J W's Express convenience store in her hometown of Farmville, a roughly 65-mile drive southwest from Richmond. While there, officials said "something told her" to spend $30 on Powerball tickets.

Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day. A shooting at an immigration facility in Dallas has left one detainee dead and at least two others in critical condition. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an “act of targeted violence,