Powerball and Mega Millions prizes continue to rise to a combined $648M

The jackpots of the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries have reached $648 million combined as they continue to climb after the latest drawings produced no winners.

The Powerball jackpot came to its current level – an estimated $340 million – after its most recent drawing on Wednesday evening brought no grand prize winner. The annuity option, which is also available for Mega Millions, represents annual payments over three decades.

It had a value of $156.5 million as a single, lump-sum cash value as of Friday, according to the lottery.

Powerball’s drawing on Wednesday yielded four Match 5 and one Match 5 + Power Play winners.

For Mega Millions, the annuitized jackpot was estimated at $308 million. The cash option is $142.1 million.

A Mega Millions player in New Jersey won a smaller but still sizable windfall on Tuesday, though no one scored the grand prize. That person landed $1 million from a Match 5 win, the lottery’s website said.

Powerball’s jackpot has seen an $18 million increase from earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Mega Millions posted a slightly larger $19 million increase.

The grand prizes for the lotteries come in at a combined $286.1 million on a lump-sum basis.

Mega Millions players will get another crack at the prize on Friday.

Mega Millions and Powerball have also seen their respective grand prizes climb above the billion-dollar mark. Most recently, in mid-October, someone in Southern California had a ticket with numbers matching those drawn by the latter for a $1.765 billion jackpot, landing them the massive windfall, according to Powerball.

In August, a player won the Mega Millions $1.602 billion jackpot. That grand prize, won in Florida, was claimed in late September.