Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game, said they expected about 75 percent of the possible number combinations would have been bought for Saturday night’s drawing. And as more and more players daydream about what their riches could buy and load up on $2 tickets, the jackpot has soared even higher. The chance to win may be one in 292 million but it’s clear people want in on the action.
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Saturday’s Powerball drawing swelled to $900 million after no one won the $500 million jackpot Wednesday. Powerball officials made a change last fall to increase the odds of players winning some prize. There is a 1 in 292 million shot at matching all of the numbers.
(AP) – The way lottery officials tell it, there was a 3 out of 4 chance that somebody would win the Powerball jackpot of almost $950 million.
The last time Powerball was hit, back in November, only five percent of all possible number combinations were in play.
The record jackpot lured an unprecedented frenzy of purchases. The good news? Neither did anyone else, according to a Texas Lottery tweet.
If there were a single jackpot victor in the next Powerball drawing on Wednesday and it was taken as a lump sum instead of annuity payments, the pretax payout would be worth $806 million, according to Powerball’s website.
California is one of 44 states, plus Washington D.C. and two USA territories, that participate in Powerball.
While that’s the largest USA lottery jackpot ever, lotteries elsewhere in the world can be far bigger.
Jennifer Rawashdeh enters tickets as customers wait in line at the Eagle Market Store to buy Powerball lottery tickets in Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles. on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016.
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“When you see numbers like a billion dollars or now a billion three, you can understand people’s enthusiasm and desire and hope that they can be the one, absolutely”, Hobson said. “It shows you how hard it is to win”. A victor Saturday night would have been a record; the estimated pot for Wednesday’s drawing has blown past that.
