Here’s What You Could Buy With a $1.7 Billion Powerball Jackpot

Three superyachts? Sure. More than two dozen trips to space? Why not?

John Waggoner and Andre Ellington,

Updated September 04, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published October 12, 2023

/ Updated September 04, 2025

AARP (Getty Images)

Can you imagine what you’d do with $1.7 billion? That’s the estimated jackpot for the Powerball this Saturday, Sept. 6. It’s the third-largest prize in U.S. lottery history.

The possibilities are endless. But before you get excited, know that you’ll have to pay Uncle Sam a hefty portion of your earnings — 24 percent in federal taxes off the top, to be exact. Also, you’ll need to decide between an annuity spread over 30 years and a lump sum of roughly $770.3 million before taxes.

Still, it’s fun to dream. Let’s explore what you could buy if you suddenly had $1.7 billion in your bank account.

3 yachts like Jeff Bezos’

The Amazon founder owns a 417-foot schooner that cost an estimated $500 million to build. The Koru has a 246-foot support ship, the Abeona, which has a helipad, just in case you forgot to pick up a loaf of bread on the way back from Monaco. With $1.7 billion, you could have three superyachts the size of Bezos’ and plenty of cash left over to outfit them to your taste.

the hope diamond repeated on a pink background

AARP (Source: Smithsonian)

2 of the world’s most valuable diamonds

Everybody knows about the Hope Diamond. The 45.5-carat jewel was worth an estimated $350 million in 2024 (although removing the curse would probably cost extra). With your Powerball winnings, you could buy that big blue rock and the even more expensive Cullinan Diamond — actually a collection of gems cut from the largest rough diamond ever found and valued at $400 million.

17 F-35 fighter planes

Lots of rich folks have private planes. But do they have one that can wreak terror from the sky? You could, assuming any country in its right mind would sell you the most advanced U.S. warplane. In fact, you could have a fleet of 17 of the $100 million airplanes (airport storage not included).

Top 10 Powerball Winners

$2 billion — Nov. 7, 2022
$1.8 billion — Oct. 11, 2023
$1.6 billion — Jan. 13, 2016
$1.2 billion — April 6, 2024
$1.1 billion — July 19, 2023
$842.4 million — Jan. 1, 2024
$815 million — Aug. 27, 2025
$768.4 million — March 27, 2019
$758.7 million — Aug. 23, 2017
$754.6 million — Feb. 6, 2023

Source: powerball.com

30 SpaceX tourist trips

Fancy a trip to outer space? You could get your chance to see the world in three days on a 13-foot-wide SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. To boot, you’ll go around the globe every 90 minutes. And, because the trip costs $55 million per seat, you could make that voyage 30 times.

134 Mickey Mantle rookie cards

Collectors argue about which baseball card is worth the most, but the 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card is hard to beat. It fetched $12.6 million at auction in 2022.

253 Aston Martin condos

What’s the point of having $1.7 billion if you don’t have a luxurious place to live? You could buy 208 condos at the British car brand’s high-rise real estate venture in Miami. That’s a lot of ocean views to enjoy.

2,261 shares of Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett’s fabled money-management prowess has launched the stock of Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company, to more than $751,808 per Class A share as of closing on Sept. 2, and the company’s annual meeting has been described as “Woodstock for capitalists.” You’d probably see plenty of Dilly Bars and Coke at the event, since Berkshire owns Dairy Queen and a big chunk of Coca-Cola.

2,794 Lamborghini Revueltos

Lambos are some of the fastest and priciest cars on the road, particularly the Revuelto model. Each one costs $608,358, and you could buy more than 2,700 of them with your winnings.

26,081,620 barrels of oil

Concerned about having enough fuel for those Lamborghinis? Fear not. A barrel of oil recently cost $65.18, according to the Energy Information Administration. Your $1.7 billion could buy more than 26 million barrels of West Texas intermediate crude.

17,000 around-the-world cruises

If you’ve got $1.7 billion, you can hit the high seas in style. At $100,000 a pop, you could circle the globe with 17,000 of your closest friends.

377,777 Louis Vuitton handbags

If you’re after a designer accessory, a new LV handbag costs $4,500. With $1.7 billion, you could buy 377,777 of them. The only problem is, where would you store them all?

472,222 ounces of gold

Want to show off your riches? What better way to say “I’m loaded” than with gold? At the recent price of nearly $3,600 an ounce, you could buy 472,222 ounces of the precious metal. But you’d better have a sturdy floor beneath them: That’s more than 29,500 pounds.

278,688,524 tall Starbucks caramel Frappuccinos

Starbucks is known for its tasty drinks, perhaps especially its caramel Frappuccino. If you had $1.7 billion, you could buy more than 278 million tall ones at $6.10 apiece.

AARP (Source: Alamy Stock Photo)

1.7 billion boxes of Kraft Original Macaroni & Cheese

All that worrying about what to buy calls for comfort food, and you can’t do much better than mac and cheese. With Walmart selling Kraft Original Macaroni & Cheese for $1 per box, you could stockpile 1.7 billion boxes of cheesy goodness.

85,000,000 AARP annual memberships

With a membership price of $20 a year, $1.7 billion would allow you to make more than 85 million people part of the AARP family.

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John Waggoner is a contributing writer of all things financial for AARP, from budgeting and taxes to retirement planning and Social Security. Previously, he was a reporter for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and USA Today and has written books on investing and the 2008 financial crisis. Waggoner’s USA Today investing column ran in dozens of newspapers for 25 years.

Andre J. Ellington is an award-winning writer based in Michigan. His work has been featured in Newsweek, HuffPost and Yahoo News.

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