Here's What You Need To Know About The Powerball Drawing Today

The Powerball jackpot has been steadily growing since the $535 million prize offered on June 10, and after 21 consecutive draws yielded no winners, the jackpot has reached a whopping $700 million. Given the huge stakes, you might be wondering what time is the Powerball drawing? After all, you can't claim your new fortune if you're not even aware that you've won it.

According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, the drawing for this week's huge Powerball jackpot will take place at 10:59 p.m EST on Wednesday evening. Hopeful participants can catch the action on cable news and affiliates of ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS, and the Powerball website features a list of television stations airing the drawing based on which state you live in.

While you have little to lose by playing to win Powerball's massive jackpot, the odds of winning this week are estimated be one in 292 million. For reference, the International Shark Attack File estimates people in the U.S. have about a one in 69,180 chance of being attacked by a shark. To be fair, the Powerball estimations doesn't count people who don't play, and the shark attack estimations rely heavily on the data of surfers and people frequenting the ocean.

So, since your odds are zero if you don't play, what's the harm in grabbing a ticket and possibly winning the paycheck of a lifetime?

While this week's Powerball jackpot is incredibly high, given the number of weeks no winners have emerged, the record high jackpot reached 1.6 billion in January 2016. The huge winnings were claimed by three winners in different states, so the money was split between California, Tennessee, and Florida.

Kelly Tabor, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Lottery told The Washington Post that the jackpot could exceed last year's record of $1.5 billion if no one claims the $650 million on Wednesday night. She said the ballooning of prize money is due largely to casual lottery players who only join when there's a huge prize. "That's really driving up sales right now," Tabor said.

If a winner claims the huge jackpot this week, they will have the option of receiving the lump sum of their prize money up front, or receiving annuity over 29 years. While both are taxed, the tax implications of the annuity often round it up to a higher total amount of money in pocket. Not to mention it protects winners from blowing all their lottery money in the course of a couple years.

Godspeed Powerball players, may the numbers be in your favor.