The jackpot in the Powerball lottery increased to a record $1.5 billion just a day ahead of the next drawing, the Multi-State Lottery Association said Tuesday.
The new record will almost certainly feed into a lottery frenzy in the U.S., where millions of people have bought lottery tickets as the jackpot increased after earlier drawings failed to produce winners. Even some Canadians have crossed the border to try their luck.
Powerball jackpots have set record after record following a change last year to how the size of pot is calculated and what a player’s odds are of winning. The jackpot is getting so high it may soon be mathematically advantageous to play.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
- Introducing the 2025 Closers
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- Why, Exactly, Is Alcohol So Bad for You?
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- 11 New Books to Read in February
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Column: Trump’s Trans Military Ban Betrays Our Troops
Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com