Powerball jackpot soars to $500M for Wednesday drawing
A massive jackpot of a half-billion dollars is up for grabs in Wednesday's Powerball drawing. With players scooping up ticket, the jackpot has soared to $500 million for the annuity. If won, it would be the third-largest top prize in Powerball history and the fifth-largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States.
Update: The winning numbers are 11-13-25-39-54, Powerball: 19, Power Play: 3
A massive jackpot of a half-billion dollars is up for grabs in Wednesday's Powerball drawing.
With players scooping up tickets, the jackpot has soared to $500 million for the annuity. If won, it would be the third-largest top prize in Powerball history and the fifth-largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States.
If taken as a lump sum, the jackpot would be worth an estimated $337.8 million.
The prize rose to $450 million after no one matched all five white balls and the Powerball on Saturday. It was increased again on Tuesday, to $485 million, and then again on Wednesday to the half-billion mark thanks to the brisk ticket sales.
Despite the one-in-175-million odds, the Pennsylvania Lottery said tickets were selling at a rate of 10,000 per minute Wednesday afternoon.
The jackpot has reached its highest level since last February, when the annuity prize hit $425 million. That winning ticket was purchased by a California man who chose the cash option, worth more than $242 million.
Powerball's jackpot has been rolling over since Nov. 29, when a Washington woman hit the $90 million top prize with her first-ever Powerball ticket purchase, according to lottery officials. The jackpot starts at $40 million and goes up each time no one wins the grand prize.
The Powerball record jackpot stands at $590.5 million, won by a Florida ticket in May 2013. That's followed by the $587.5 million jackpot, split between tickets sold in Missouri and Arizona in November 2012.
The top two all-time lottery jackpots are both from Mega Millions: A $656 million jackpot won in March 2012 and $648 million, won in December 2013.
The Mega Millions jackpot is also on the rise, after no one matched all five numbers (7, 42, 53, 58, 71) and the Mega Ball of 15 in Tuesday's drawing.
The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for Friday's drawing is $74 million.