No combination of winning Powerball numbers has been drawn more than once since the game debuted in 2006, NC lottery officials said Thursday. But have any numbers tended to show up most often?
Many people are eyeing the rare $1 billion jackpot in the Mega Millions game this week. The Powerball jackpot is up to $170 million.
The Charlotte Observer took a look at which Powerball numbers have showed up the most in winning combinations.
Players snare a Powerball jackpot by matching the five white balls, in any order, plus the one red Powerball number in a drawing. Matching all five white balls wins $1 million.
Odds of hitting a jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Powerball page on NCLottery.com. Odds of matching the five white balls are 1 in nearly 11.69 million, according to the lottery.
No. 32 appeared most often — 173 times — among the first five balls drawn in winning combinations, followed by the No. 39 in 163 combinations, according to data.
The No. 20 ranks third, appearing in 159 winning combinations, followed by No. 23 (158 combinations) and No. 14 (153).
The No. 24 is the most commonly drawn winning Power Ball number, appearing in that position 73 times over the decades, the analysis shows.
Odds of winning Powerball
Even the odds of drawing a single number are small. No 32, which has appeared the most, still appears less than 2% of the time, data show.
No player won the $151.3 million Powerball jackpot in Wednesday’s drawing, according to the lottery. The white balls drawn were 1, 25, 44, 55 and 57. 26 was the red ball.
The jackpot in Saturday’s drawing has climbed to $170 million, or a cash value of $100.5 million.
Drawings are held Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.
Charlotte-area players have won Powerball prizes over the years large enough for state lottery officials to issue news releases about their big wins.
Most recently, a craving for a cigar led to a $1 million Powerball prize for 62-year-old Charlotte resident John Gerenza at the Harris Teeter grocery store on South Tryon Street, lottery officials said July 22.
Gerenza decided to plunk down $2 for a Quick Pick ticket whose numbers matched those on the five white balls in the July 16 drawing, 3, 18, 23, 32, 5.
In December, James Miller of the Lincoln County community of Iron Station scored a $100,000 Powerball prize. He just left a convenience store when something told him to go back inside and buy a couple of $3 Powerball tickets, he told lottery officials.
“Six dollars changed my life,” he said, according to a lottery news release. “I’ve got two babies at home, and they sure are going to have an amazing Christmas now.”
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news.
