How To Watch The Powerball Drawing To Find Out If You're The World's Newest Billionaire

The country is currently wrapped up in an unprecedented lottery frenzy, with throngs of people flooding convenience to purchase Powerball tickets. Perhaps that's because the jackpot has grown to an astounding $1.5 billion, the largest prize in lottery history. But while practically the entire country is rushing to purchase tickets before the drawing Wednesday night, stop for a second and make sure that you know how to actually view the drawing. If you're one of the millions of hopefuls gunning to win the jackpot, here's how you can watch the Powerball drawing.

Someone could finally break the losing streak and claim the record-shattering $1.5 billion jackpot when the Powerball drawing takes place on Wednesday night at 10:59 p.m. ET. So where can you see those six fateful numbers pop up? Players, or spectators, can watch the Powerball drawing on their local news stations, like ABC affiliate WABC in New York City, KCAL in Los Angeles, and WGN in Chicago. Here is a full list of local TV stations that will air the drawing.

However, if you don't own a television, you can still watch the drawing. The official Powerball website will stream the drawing live. Because there is so much at stake with this historical drawing, security will be extremely stringent at the Tallahassee lottery studio where it's taking place.

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According to Florida lottery spokeswoman Connie Barnes, the Powerball balls are kept in a double-locked vault equipped with an alarm system which requires three people to open.

And in order to avoid its own Deflategate scandal, the Multi-State Lottery Association makes sure the balls are measured, weighed, and tested for density before being used for the first time. Once they've been approved, they can be used for two to four years, with additional annual tests.


Assuming everything goes smoothly at Wednesday night's drawing, players will have a one in 292 million chance of winning the ultimate prize and better odds at winning a whole host of consolation prizes. Players must match all five winning numbers (in any order) and then match the sixth Powerball number to win big. However, if you can match all five numbers without the Powerball, you can still win a cool million.

If you're lucky enough to win the $1.5 billion jackpot, your estimated winnings after taxes, should you choose the lump sum payment, will be $561.7 million.