The Powerball lottery jackpot climbed to $1.5 billion on Tuesday, making it the largest-ever U.S. lottery prize as well as the world’s biggest potential jackpot for a single victor, according to lottery officials.
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Multi-State Lottery Association officials add to the grand prize once a day during high-interest periods to keep up the publicity.
The multistate lottery’s jackpot is down to “just” $15 million for the January 12 drawing.
So while the odds of hitting the jackpot are 1 in 292 million, the chances of winning any prize at all are 1 in 24.87.
The lure of quick cash was too much for Thomas Lanehy of Collinswood, N.J., who stood in line Monday at Kumar’s convenience store to buy one $2 ticket. As of last check, the Powerball total is hovering at $1.5 billion dollars.
If the victor opts to take the prize in one lump sum, he or she gets only US$868 million, a cut of 38 per cent, reported CNBC. The more numbers chosen increase the chances of winning. California and Pennsylvania exempt lottery winnings from income taxes if the ticket was bought in-state.
The last MI player to win a Powerball jackpot was Julie Leach, of Three Rivers. Idaho has a statewide network of 1,200 retail locations that sell tickets, and each retailer earns a commission for each Powerball ticket the sell. It’s now estimated at $1.5 billion.
“Make copies ahead of time, make sure everybody knows what the numbers are so that later, there’s never any misunderstanding about, ‘well that ticket was mine, I didn’t buy it for everybody, ‘” New York Lottery director Gardner Gurney told WCBS 880’s Alex Silverman. “No worries though because you can still find updated winning numbers and jackpot information below or by downloading the Hoosier Lottery App”.
The largest Powerball prize in MI was a $337 million Powerball jackpot won on August 15, 2012, by Donald Lawson, of Lapeer.
On Wednesday, Romero said he plans to open at 7:30 a.m., instead of 9 a.m., in hopes of selling even more Powerball tickets for the drawing.
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It’s causing people to race out and buy tickets, all while planning just what they’d do with the money.
