It is extremely unlikely to win the Powerball jackpot. The odds are so small that for most people it is effectively never going to happen.
Jackpot odds
For a standard U.S. Powerball ticket, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. That means if you bought one ticket every drawing, you would on average expect to hit the jackpot far less than once in your lifetime.
Any prize odds
Powerball has multiple smaller prize levels that are much easier to hit than the jackpot. The overall odds of winning any prize (even just a few dollars) are around 1 in 25 for a single ticket. That still means most tickets win nothing, but small wins are far more common than jackpots.
Perspective on risk
The chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is far lower than many rare events that people worry about. For example, the odds are often estimated to be hundreds of times worse than being struck by lightning at some point in your life. Because of this, many financial experts suggest treating lottery tickets purely as entertainment, not as an investment or plan to get rich.
