Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots grow again, top $870M

UPDATE: Winning numbers for Wednesday’s 11 p.m. drawing are 42, 39, 18, 2, 37 and the Powerball is 12 and the power play multiplier is 3.

ORIGINAL STORY: There may be a lack of luck lately with Powerball and Mega MIllions, but there’s certainly no lack of interest in the popular games.

The Powerball jackpot increased to $460 million for Wednesday night’s drawing due to strong sales, Georgia Lottery officials said Wednesday in a news release.

And the Mega Millions top prize is at $418 million because no one matched all the winning numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing, officials said.

Neither game has had a big winner in awhile.

The top Powerball prize has been growing since Oct. 28 and has rolled 19 times, officials said. The Mega Millions jackpot has been growing since Oct. 17 and has rolled 23 times.

Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot rose from $440 million to $460 million due to strong sales. (Credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Still, the fact that the Powerball and Mega Millions prizes both have grown before their drawings in the past two days shows that people are buying the $2 tickets in strong volume.

And they are buying tickets despite the overwhelming odds against winning the jackpots. The odds of winning the Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million, and 1 in 302.5 million for Mega Millions, according to the Georgia Lottery website.

People can play both games at participating retailers or on the Georgia Lottery website.

Wednesday’s Powerball drawing can be viewed at 11 p.m., right before Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat.