A Powerball ticket is pictured as the jackpot continues to rise.

Editor's note: Follow USA TODAY's Powerball coverage for Sept. 6 ahead of Saturday night's drawing.

The Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $1.7 billion on Sept. 4, setting up another round of frenzied ticket sales ahead of the next drawing on Saturday, Sept. 6.

There was once again no jackpot winner when numbers were drawn on Wednesday, Sept. 3. The jackpot is now the third-largest in U.S. history and the biggest since $1.586 billion was up for grabs in January 2016.

There were 162,032,212 Powerball tickets sold for the Sept. 3 drawing, an 189% increase in sales compared to the previous week's drawing on Aug. 27 for a $850 million jackpot, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. Though the chances of winning remain astronomically low − about 1 in 292.2 million - the massive jackpot has many Americans dreaming about what they would do with the cash prize.

No one knows who (if anyone) will win, until Saturday night, but hopeful players will keep their eye on the prize until the drawing. USA TODAY is covering everything to know about your odds, how to buy tickets, the history of Powerball winners and more.

Here's our latest coverage:

When is the next drawing?

The next drawing will take place on Saturday, Sept. 6, just after 11 p.m. ET. The winner could opt for an annuitized prize estimated at $1.70 billion or a lump sum payment estimated at $770.3 million, as of Thursday morning, Sept. 4.

The next drawing will be the 42nd since the Powerball jackpot was last won in May. The current streak has broken the previous record for most consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner, which ended in April 2024 with a $1.326 billion jackpot win in Oregon, according to the Powerball website.

How to play the Powerball

Powerball tickets are sold for at least $2 at a variety of locations including convenience stores, gas stations and grocery stores in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In some states, players can buy Powerball tickets online.

Players must choose six numbers: Five from 1 to 69 to match white balls and one from 1 to 26 to match the red Powerball. To win the jackpot, players must match all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball.

People can choose the numbers themselves or allow the computer to choose for them with the "Quick Pick" option. They can also add a “Power Play” for $1, which can multiply the winning for non-jackpot prizes by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X.

What to do if you win the Powerball jackpot

If you become the lucky, sole winner of the $1.7 billion Powerball jackpot, celebrate! Then, go hide.

Claiming that much money will likely draw taxes, grifters and friends and family members, advisers say. So, the first and most important piece of financial advice likely is what you should not do if you hold the winning ticket.

"Don’t shout your win from the rooftop," Rob Burnette, financial and investment adviser at Outlook Financial Center in Troy, Ohio, previously told USA TODAY. "If you’re lucky enough to win the lottery, keep it quiet. Get organized and make a plan. Consider staying anonymous, if it’s a possibility."

Powerball jackpot is huge, but taxes take more than you'd expect

Even if you get all the winning numbers, you won’t get $1.7 billion. That's because the Powerball winner must pay federal taxes and possibly state and city taxes, depending on where they live.

Most winners take the lump sum payout. If the winner of this drawing takes the lump sum, they'll automatically pay the IRS $184.9 million, or 24% off the top in federal tax withholding, according to Forbes.

The total lump sum is also subject to a federal marginal tax rate of up to 37%, meaning another $100.1 million. All this would be part of the winner's 2025 federal income tax return and would ultimately leave them with $485.3 million, assuming no other deductions.

But some states tax lottery winnings, from 2.9% in North Dakota to 8.82% in New York. Certain cities tax winnings as well.

What are your odds of winning the Powerball jackpot?

The chances of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292.2 million, according to the Powerball website. Unfortunately, experts have found you are more likely to be struck by lightning, fatally attacked by a shark, or killed by a meteorite, asteroid or comet than win this jackpot.

Tips for picking Powerball numbers

The only real way to increase your odds of winning the jackpot is to buy more tickets.

But Harvard statistics professor Mark Glickman previously told USA TODAY he recommends selecting random numbers or buying Quick Picks because if a player picks a common sequence, like their child's birthday, there is a greater chance someone else will pick those same numbers and they'll have to split the prize.

What are the biggest-ever Powerball drawings?

The 10 largest Powerball jackpots have all occurred in the last nine years. The biggest prizes, a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won on Nov. 7, 2022, and $1.765 billion won on Oct. 11, 2023, were both won by winning tickets in California.

How Americans are picking Powerball numbers

Among the customers stopping into the Speedy Mart in Collingswood, New Jersey, on Sept. 2, the secret formula for picking winning numbers − at least for those who didn't let the machine choose random numbers for them − seemed to be birthdates, specifically those of the players' kids and grandkids.

According to a 2023 Cambridge University study, players tend to choose numbers that have a personal connection, or that just appeal to them visually on a lottery sheet. Cultural influences can play a role, too, and some numbers are considered lucky or unlucky in different traditions.

"Players favor personally meaningful and situationally available numbers and are attracted toward numbers in the center of the choice form," the authors wrote. "Frequent players avoid winning numbers from recent draws, whereas infrequent players chase these. Combinations of numbers are formed with an eye for aesthetics, and players tend to spread their numbers relatively evenly across the possible range."

Contributing: Fernando Cervantes Jr., Phaedra Trethan, Sara Chernikoff, Jessica Guynn, George Petras, Janet Loehrke, and Christopher Cann

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Want to win that huge Powerball jackpot? Here's updates on everything to know.

Reporting by N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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