More than $1 billion in Powerball tickets have been sold in the U.S, lottery officials said.
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Florida is among the top-selling POWERBALL states of any USA lottery, exceeding more than $3.2 billion in sales, yielding $1.3 billion in education funding to date. Those numbers haven’t surfaced among the white balls or red Powerball in months.
The Powerball jackpot jumped to $1.4 billion on Monday morning.
The Saturday numbers were: 16 – 19 – 32 – 34 – 57 Powerball 13.
In discussing the fact that no one hit the jackpot on the January 9th drawing despite so many tickets being sold, Gary Grief, the executive director of the Texas Lottery, said it was all a matter of statistics in an interview on Sunday.
And, of course, like any lab rat, we are more likely to take that chance as the reward – in this case, a $1.3 billion piece of cheese – gets bigger. The Powerball numbers from Wednesday’s drawing were 2, 11, 47, 62, 63 with the Powerball No. 17.
The current cash payout is $868 million.
That change put the odds of a billion-dollar lottery over a five-year period at 63.4 percent of the time, according to calculations from FiveThirtyEight.
Sure, you may have scoffed at co-workers and gamblaholic family members before, but in the face of numbers like these, can you truly resist the lure of Powerball?
If you chipped into a Powerball ticket pool, or are considering that option now, be aware.
They may not be billionaires, but there were dozens who became millionaires as a result of the latest Powerball drawing. The first time was Saturday night when the jackpot was worth close to $950 million.
That hasn’t been the case in other instances, when greed has overpowered office camaraderie and lawsuits have drained away lottery winnings. With nearly unimaginable riches at stake, many Americans who normally shun lotteries joined the long lines of people buying tickets at retail stores across the country.
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Next, lawyer up. A securities attorney who’s represented several lottery winners in the past told USA Today you should assemble a team of lawyers, certified public accountants and financial advisers even before you claim that big prize.
