Powerball began as Lotto America, an interstate lottery game, in 1998.  The 10th-largest jackpot in the game's 37-year history is up for grabs in Monday night's drawing.

Throughout the summer, the Powerball jackpot has been increasing.  No ticket matched the winning numbers of 11, 14, 34, 47, 51, and the red Powerball 18 on Saturday, August 23, continuing the streak.

The jackpot was previously won by a single ticket in California on May 31 for $204.5 million, and tonight's drawing is the 37th since that date.

"The excitement of playing for a colossal Powerball jackpot is back,” said Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and CEO of the Iowa Lottery. “It only takes one $2 Powerball ticket to win Monday’s jackpot, and a portion of that sale will go directly to supporting programs and services that benefit local communities.”

In addition to Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, Powerball is played in forty-five states.  The jurisdiction in which each ticket is sold retains more than half of the ticket's price.

More than $36 billion has been raised for charitable organizations by the game's participating lotteries since Lotto America changed its name to Powerball in 1992.

The $750 million jackpot

The anticipated prize for Monday, August 25's Powerball drawing is $750 million.  On the list of all-time Powerball jackpots, the three-quarter billion dollar comes in at number ten.

If there is just one winner, they will have the choice of receiving a one-time payout of about $338.6 million in cash or the entire $750 million prize spread over 30 years.  Both figures are before potential state and federal taxes.

After 37% federal taxes, the cash option would be down to $213.36 million.  Eight states—California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming—along with Puerto Rico do not impose taxes on lottery winnings.  New Jersey and DC both take a 10.75% cut, while New York has a 10.9% state tax, making it the worst place to win a lottery prize.

For a meager chance at beating the jackpot's 1 in 292.2 million chances, Powerball tickets start at just $2.  In the majority of participating Powerball jurisdictions, there is an optional $1 Power Play that has the potential to multiply nonjackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times.

Winners for Saturday 

Even though no one took home the Powerball jackpot on Saturday, there were still some huge wins from the draw.

In order to win $1 million, two tickets that were sold in Maine and New York had to match all five white numbers.  When all five white numbers appeared on a different ticket that was sold in South Dakota, the Power Play doubled the payment to $2 million.

Five Power Play tickets matched the red Powerball and four white balls to win $100,000.  Thirty-one more won $50,000 by matching the Powerball and four white balls without the $1 add-on.

Just matching the Powerball earned over a million tickets.  Of those, 236,650 purchased the Power Play and increased their win to $8.