No ticket matched all six Powerball numbers following the drawing for a record jackpot of almost $950 million, lottery officials said early Sunday, boosting the expected payout for the next drawing to a whopping $1.3 billion.
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It was not immediate known if any ticket holder had the magic combination of six numbers selected in the drawing: 32, 16, 19, 57, 34 and the Powerball number was 13.
Iowa Lottery officials say strong sales nationwide pushed Saturday’s jackpot to $949.8 million annuity by the time the drawing was held at 9:59 p.m. Iowa time.
Prizes range from $4 for matching just the Powerball number to $1 million for matching all five numbers, but not the Powerball. Between Wednesday’s and Saturday’s drawings, more than $900 million in Powerball tickets were sold.
The US Powerball jackpot is heading for $US1.3 billion ($1.86 billion) after there were no winners in Saturday’s draw. It was bought at the Hy-Vee store at 3301 Gordon Drive. Overall odds of winning any prize are about 25 to 1.
“The chances of you winning that jackpot has been well-documented over the course of the last week or two are extraordinarily long”, Polston said. Someone, eventually, will buy the winning ticket.
A ticket sold on Maryland’s Eastern Shore was one number away from making its lucky owner a near-billionaire.
The grand prize for Powerball has climbed steadily for weeks after repeated drawings produced no big winners.
“No Powerball jackpot victor”, the Texas Lottery announced on Twitter hours after the numbers were drawn. Convenience stores had glowing signs and paper printouts letting patrons know about Wednesday’s projected $1.3-billion prize.
“Once you get numbers that size, it’s hard for people to wrap their minds around them”, Wasserstein said.
The biggest win came in 2011 when a Scottish couple collected £161 million.
Even if a solo Powerball victor chooses the lump-sum option (instead of having the prize paid out over 29 years), that person will get an estimated $806 million. A victor Saturday night would have been a record; the estimated pot for Wednesday’s drawing has blown past that.
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Players in Lincoln, Nebraska, said they don’t expect to win, but most noted that eventually, someone will take home all that money. The chance to win may be one in 292 million but it’s clear people want in on the action.
