No one won the soon-to-be largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history last night, but someone in Austin, Texas, came awfully close.
A Valero corner store sold a ticket that matched five of the six numbers needed to win the $900 million grand prize jackpot. The ticket did not have the winning Powerball number. The winning numbers were 16, 19, 32, 34, 57, and 13 as the Powerball.
So close, yet so far. Tickets that match five numbers except for the Powerball win their owners $1 million.
According to the Texas Lottery's website, the store was one of three stores in Texas that sold big tickets for at least $1 million.
The Powerball lottery contest has a special option to increase winnings called the Powerplay and the site shows two of the three tickets bought the Powerplay option. The two tickets with the Powerplay are now worth $2 million. All three tickets used the Quick Pick option, which allows for a lottery computer machine to pick numbers for the buyer.
The Powerball lottery numbers are drawn on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. An estimated $1.3 billion is on the line for the next drawing, with a cash value estimated at $806 million before federal and state taxes.
The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million. Tickets sell for $2 each.
Will you buy a ticket for the next drawing?
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