Momtaz Parvin pulls Powerball lottery tickets from the printer at her store in Oklahoma City, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, as the multi-state jackpot reaches $800 million.
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While no one took home the grand prize, six tickets sold in California were worth $1 million apiece after they matched five of the numbers, missing only the Powerball, state lottery officials said. Spain’s massively popular Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo”, is ranked as the world’s richest, though it doles out a single jackpot among millions of prizes, instead of one large jackpot like the Powerball.
Since Nov. 4, the Powerball jackpot has grown from its $40 million starting point as no one has won the jackpot.
Twenty-five lucky people walked away with a nice consolation prize of $1 million Saturday, but the big Powerball payout is still up for grabs. Cripe said 75 percent of all 292.2 million combinations were bought before Saturday’s drawing.
All six numbers must be correct to win. Many caught lottery fever with their eyes on $950 million, but that record breaking number has raised once again. Even lottery officials are shocked about the massive jackpot.
This story was updated with a new jackpot amount.
People across the US have rushed to buy tickets, sometimes waiting in long lines. On Wednesday, no one won $500 million. “Absolutely confirmed”, said Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief, whose state lottery is part of the Multi-State Lottery Association that runs Powerball. The next drawing is this Wednesday night.
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Last night’s Powerball numbers, which saw no winners, were 16, 19, 32, 34, 57, with a Powerball of 13. Powerball is played in 44 states, as well ast he District, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A big chunk goes to federal income taxes. If the victor chooses the annuity, that works out to just under $45 million per year, or $3.7 million deposited into the winner’s bank account every month.
