US Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.7 Billion

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Your upcoming Powerball loss is DraftKings’ gain

As the Powerball jackpot has stretched to $1.8 billion, users are flooding into DraftKing’s Jackpocket lottery app.

Saturday will mark Powerball’s 42nd drawing since the last time someone hit the jackpot. The prize has ballooned to $1.8 billion, sending would-be winners rushing to scoop up tickets.

There will be an immense number of losers, but one sure-thing winner: DraftKings.

The gambling company, which owns the lottery courier app Jackpocket, told CNBC that ticket sales on its app have surged in the recent frenzy. DraftKings said Jackpocket’s sales skyrocketed 200% on Wednesday from the week prior, and then another 130% on Thursday.

Rules vary by location, but the app charges a service fee of around 14% when you deposit funds or purchase a ticket using the app. It’s available in 16 states.

The gambling giant told CNBC that 15 million Powerball tickets have been purchased on the app during the current Powerball run. Back of the napkin math would Jackpocket's take home at a few million, nothing eye-watering, but that jump in the app store may open it up to new users who could become habitual users.

When DraftKings announced its acquisition of the app in February 2024, it said it expected the deal to drive between $260 million and $340 million of revenue by fiscal year 2026, and between $350 million and $450 million by fiscal year 2028.

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Paramount and Microsoft’s Activision agree to partner on a “Call of Duty” movie

Less than a month after forming, Paramount Skydance has landed another major piece of intellectual property. The studio said it’s signed a deal with Microsoft’s Activision to create a live-action “Call of Duty” film.

The competitive shooter is one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world and has been the US’s bestselling series for the past 16 years. The next title in the 22-year-old franchise, “Black Ops 7,” will debut in November.

Paramount, which closed its merger with Skydance in August, has had a summer of big deals. It acquired UFC broadcast rights in a $7.7 billion deal with TKO last month, following a $1.5 billion deal for “South Park” rights in July. The company also lured “Stranger Things” creators away from Netflix last month for a four-year film and TV development deal.

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9/1/25

“Blinding Lights” just officially hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Over the weekend, The Weeknd’s biggest hit crossed over the impressive threshold, with Spotify marking the feat with an Instagram post that the artist shared to his story.

According to Spotify data collated by Kworb, the song now has a staggering 5,000,010,581 streams on the platform, and is racking up nearly 1.5 million streams each day at the time of writing.

Blinding Lights crosses 5 billion chart — Sherwood News

While Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” released about two years before “Blinding Lights,” looks like it’ll be the next song to hit the 5 billion boundary, “Starboy,” another song from The Weeknd, might not be too far behind.

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is about to hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

$30B

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8/29/25

Americans are set to gamble a record $30 billion on the NFL this season, according to estimates from the American Gaming Association.

For context, that’s the same price tag as all US sports broadcasting rights combined. Leading sportsbooks like DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, and MGM’s BetMGM are positioned to cash in, with each battling for market share through promos, partnerships, and increasingly sticky mobile apps.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are ramping up efforts to crack down on illegal sportsbooks: this month, 50 attorneys general urged the Justice Department to take action against unlicensed gambling, warning that states are losing roughly $4 billion in tax revenue.

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Your upcoming Powerball loss is DraftKings’ gain

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