Powerball prize increases to $825M amid strong interest

A whopping $825 million is up for grabs in Saturday night's Powerball drawing, lottery officials said, in what is expected to be the game's second-biggest jackpot drawing ever.

"Strong ticket sales" drove up the jackpot from a previously estimated $800 million, officials said on Friday. The cash value of Saturday's jackpot is $410.2 million.

The jackpot is Powerball's largest prize so far this year, the second-largest Powerball jackpot ever (behind a record-setting $1.586 billion in 2016) and the fifth-largest in U.S. lottery history, according to a press release from Powerball.

The Powerball jackpot was last hit on Aug. 3, and there have been 36 drawings in a row with no grand prize winner.

Should no one win the jackpot again on Saturday, the grand prize is estimated to reach $1 billion for Monday's drawing, lottery officials said.

Jackpot winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years.

Tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was purchased, according to Powerball.

The jackpot grows based on game sales and interest. But the odds of winning the big prize stay the same -- 1 in 292.2 million, Powerball said.

Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. The drawings are also livestreamed online at Powerball.com.