DES MOINES, Iowa – The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $415 million, making it the largest since a record-setting prize in January.

Wiing numbers for the game will be drawn Saturday night, and if no one has the lucky ticket, the prize will likely grow substantially by the next drawing Wednesday.

Although $415 million is nothing to tu your nose up at, it's far smaller than the largest-ever $1.6 billion jackpot that prompted some to wait in hours-long lines outside lottery retailers. Three people bought wiing tickets for that prize in January.

Powerball is played in 44 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of wiing are one in 292.2 million.

The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $415 million, making Saturday night's prize the largest since a record $1.6 billion payout in January. Interest and sales typically spike when the lack of a wier causes prizes to spiral upward. Here are some things to keep in mind about Saturday's drawing and future jackpots.

HOW DOES POWERBALL WORK?

Drawings are at 10:59 p.m. Easte time on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when five of 69 white balls are drawn from a drum, along with one of 26 red balls from another drum. Match all the numbers and you're suddenly very wealthy. Smaller prizes are paid if you match the Powerball or at least three of the white balls. The jackpot starts at $40 million and increases until there is a wier. Each ticket costs $2, and players can pay an extra $1 to increase the smaller prizes they might win.

IMPROVING THE ODDS

With high hopes, people often buy 25, 100 or more tickets, or they might join an office pool. They're right that buying more tickets increases their chance of wiing, but not by much. To really increase your odds, you'd need to buy hundreds of thousands or millions of combinations, and even then you'd probably lose.

PICK YOUR PRIZE

Jackpot wiers face a choice of taking a lump sum or an auity paid over 30 years. The auity is the amount promoted as the jackpot, but most wiers opt for cash — which, as of Friday moing, is an impressive but much smaller $269.7 million. Most wiers think they can ea a higher investment retu than would be guaranteed through the auity. But don't forget about taxes, which will eat up about half of the cash wiings and a bit less of the auity.

LONG LINES

Powerball is sold in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. That leaves Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah as the only states that don't participate. Typically, the busiest retailers and longest lines are found just across the border from states in the Lower 48 that don't offer the game.