Update: The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 47, 2, 63, 62 and 11, and the Powerball was 17. Anybody get lucky?
Original story: As if a $450 million jackpot wasn't big enough, the Powerball pot climbed by $50 million hours before the Wednesday drawing.
That’s $500 million for even the weakest math students. And thanks to strong ticket sales, it’s the sixth largest lottery jackpot ever in North America.
No kidding.
Whether you play the lottery regularly or routinely skip it, this is a big one. The last Powerball jackpot winner was on Nov. 4, and the jackpot has been climbing ever since. This $2 ticket could reap a big return.
Powerball offers two jackpot payment options: the $500 million prize paid over 29 years in graduated payments, or the cash option of approximately $306 million.
Wednesday’s jackpot will be the largest Powerball prize since last February, when players from North Carolina, Texas and Puerto Rico shared $564.1 million.
The odds of winning Wednesday’s big prize is 1 in 292 million. But there is a much better chance — 1 in 24.87 — of winning lesser prizes during the drawing.
Powerball is played in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. But no Georgian has won since September 2011, when Kathy Scruggs pocketed the $25 million jackpot.
When she won, Scruggs said she hadn’t even intended to buy a Powerball ticket.
“I asked for a Mega Millions ticket, and the lady gave me a Powerball ticket,” Scruggs told lottery officials. “I just took it anyway. So I bought Powerball and Mega Millions.”
Tickets for the drawing can be purchased until 10 p.m. Wednesday. The drawing can be seen on at 11 p.m. on Channel 2.
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