July 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Powerball jackpot has reached a whopping $1 billion for only the third time in the game's history after another Monday night drawing produced no winning ticket. The Monday drawing was the 38th in a row without someone winning the top prize, which increases every time the jackpot goes unclaimed. The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292.2 million, according to the Powerball website. The last winning jackpot ticket was picked on April 19, for a grand prize of $252.6 million. The largest Powerball jackpot ever won was in November, when a California man drew the lucky numbers for $2.04 billion.

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