The Powerball jackpot has jumped to $150 million after no entries scored the division one prize in its $100 million draw.
The $150 million prize in next Thursday's draw is the biggest jackpot offered by any Australian lottery game since October 2022, when Powerball offered a record-breaking $160 million.
The game’s prize money has rolled higher for the fifth consecutive week.
While no entries scored the division one prize on Thursday night, a total of 3,445,440 prizes worth more than $71.1 million were won in divisions two to nine.
Among these winners, there were 15 division two winners, who each took home a prize of $132,040.20. These winners were just one number shy of taking home the $100-million-dollar prize.
The Lott spokeswoman Anna Hobdell said she was sure many Aussies would be counting down to next week’s $150 million draw.
“It’s undeniable that the idea of winning a slice of the $150 million division one prize will captivate the minds of many Australians this week as anticipation and excitement builds,” she said in a statement.
Ms Hobdell said up to half of Australian adults are expected to have an entry into the next draw.
“To give an indication of the scale of excitement projected for the upcoming draw, the peak of sales for this week’s $100 million Powerball draw was at 5.46pm when Aussies grabbed 7224 entries in a single minute."
The winning numbers in Powerball draw 1444 on Thursday night were 21, 31 17, 22, 20, 24 and 34. The Powerball number was 6.