Powerball jackpot hits $325M, Georgia's biggest ever

By Christopher Seward

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The jackpot for Saturday's Powerball multi-state lottery climbed to $325 million, the Georgia Lottery said Friday.

Enlarge photo

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com The Powerball billboard visible to northbound commuters along the connector near Turner Field says it all.

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Officials said this is the largest Powerball jackpot in Georgia since the state began selling tickets in 2010. The largest-ever Powerball jackpot was $365 million in Nebraska in February 2006.

If a single player matches all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing and chooses the cash option, the proceeds would be about $202.9 million,  the highest in Powerball history.

The odds of winning any lottery prize is about 1 in 32, but the odds of winning the jackpot is about 1 in 175 million, officials said.

A lottery spokeswoman said there is no way to tell how much the jackpot might rise even more before Saturday's drawing since the amount is fueled by lottery ticket sales. The ticket for the drawing is $2.

The drawing is held at 11 p.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, and the jackpot has rolled over 13 times since Dec. 28.

One Georgia Lottery player matched the first five numbers drawn Wednesday -- 17, 28, 38, 39 and 51 -- but not the "power ball," which was 33. That player, along with players in Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska and New Jersey, won $1 million each.

The last jackpot winner, from Maryland, played in the Dec. 24 drawing and won $129 million.

Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this report