Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and overseen by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which also manages other large jackpot games such as the Mega Millions. Drawings are held three times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, at the Florida Lottery's headquarters in Tallahassee.

The winning numbers are made up of five "white balls" from a matrix of 69 and one red "Powerball" from a matrix of 26, resulting in jackpot odds of 1 in 292,201,338 per play. Each play costs two dollars, but players in some states can add Power Play, which allows players to increase the payout of their winning numbers, or Double Play, which allows players to use their numbers in a second, concurrent drawing with a different prize pool, each for an additional dollar. The official cutoff for ticket sales is 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time; some lotteries cut off sales earlier. Powerball's minimum jackpot starts at $20 million annuity. Powerball jackpot winners have the choice of taking the annuity or lump sum cash prize. The annuity is paid in 30 graduated installments over 29 years with each annuity payment increasing 5% annually, whereas the lump sum payment, with a cash value of about half of the advertised jackpot, is paid all at once.

Powerball is known for producing some of the largest lottery jackpots in history, including the record-breaking $2.1 billion jackpot won by a ticket purchased in Altadena, California, in 2022.

Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah do not have state lotteries.

Powerball's predecessor began in 1988; the multi-state game was known as Lotto America. The game, and name, were changed to Powerball on April 19, 1992; its first drawing was held April 22.

When it was launched in 1992 Powerball became the first game to use two drums. Using two drums to draw numbers from offers more manipulation of the probabilities by simultaneously allowing low jackpot odds, numerous prize levels, and high overall odds of winning (as explained later, a ticket can win by matching only one number). The two-drum concept was suggested by Steve Caputo of the Oregon Lottery. The two-drum concept has since been used by The Big Game (now Mega Millions) in the US, Australia's Powerball, Thunderball in the UK, Eurojackpot and EuroMillions.^{[citation needed]}

Through 2008, Powerball drawings usually were held at Screenscape Studios in West Des Moines, Iowa. The drawings' host was longtime Iowa radio personality Mike Pace, who had hosted MUSL drawings since Lotto America began in 1988. In 1996, Powerball went "on the road" for the first time, holding five remote drawings at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. A few weeks later, Georgia became the only jurisdiction to leave Powerball (Maine, which joined MUSL in 1990, left when Powerball began). In August 1996, Georgia joined the then-new The Big Game, then the other major U.S. lottery group. It planned to sell tickets for both games for the rest of 1996; but within days Georgia was removed from MUSL, not to return until the 2010 cross-sell expansion.

On November 2, 1997, the annuity was changed from 20 to 25 yearly payments; the cash option was added.^{[failed verification]}