If you did win the big prize on Saturday night and decided you wanted a lump sum payout, you’d take home around $430 million.
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Between $5 million and $10 million per hour in Powerball ticket sales were expected in California in the hours leading up to Saturday’s drawing, said Alex Traverso, spokesman for California Lottery.
Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, said Powerball sales on Thursday were double the previous record for that day.
For the excitement of watching the numbers being drawn live, Powerball offers a live stream through an app available on the Apple Store and on Google Play.
The previous record for a jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot won in March 2012.
The prize of $700 million, largest lottery reward in US history, is for an annuity that is paid out over 30 years.
She suggests that if you plan on purchasing a ticket, you might want to buy it early.
On Wednesday evening between 6 and 7 p.m., Powerball tickets were being sold at a rate of 25,000 per minute.
By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing.
Scott A. Norris, an assistant professor of mathematics at Southern Methodist University, said there’s no trick to playing the lottery, but your tiny odds of winning are a bit better if you let the computer pick rather than choosing yourself.
The odds of winning the jackpot are slim, about one in 292 million.
If you are looking to purchase a Powerball ticket, you should know that the luckiest state in producing winners has been Pennsylvania, where 16 people have won the Powerball since 2003. It boasts of having “official tickets for all the world’s biggest lotteries”, including the Powerball in the United States and EuroMillions in France. White selected the $86 million cash option.
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The $1 million prize automatically becomes $2 million with Power Play. Six states – Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and SC – allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.
