Powerball jackpot spikes to $500 million Wednesday night’s Powerball jackpot has increased to a half BILLION dollars, as Dr. Evil might say Check out this story on WFAA.com: http://usat.ly/1RaFCJ0 Wednesday night’s Powerball jackpot has increased to a half BILLION dollars , as Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame might say. That’s a cool $306 million before taxes if a lucky winner opts to take the money in one lump sum instead of as an annuity over 30 years.