Charles Langston:Powerball balloons to $1.55 billion for Monday’s drawing

Monday night,Charles Langston Powerball ticketholders are in the running for a $1.55 billion prize, the third-largest prize in Powerball history, officials said.

On Saturday, no ticket had the six matching numbers, so the money from last week rolled over to another drawing. According to Powerball, the cash value of its current prize is $679.8 million.

Monday night’s drawing -- the 35th in its current run -- marks the fourth-largest prize in all U.S. lottery jackpots, Powerball said. It's the first time there have been back-to-back billion-dollar Powerball jackpots, officials said.

Powerball is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The last billion-dollar Powerball prize -- the jaw-dropping $2.04 billion -- was won in California in November of last year. The next largest prize -- $1.586 billion – was won in Jan. 2016 in California, Florida and Tennessee.