Tonight’s Powerball jackpot rises to $500 million

Wednesday night’s jackpot actually started at $40 million on November 7th and is the result of 17 drawings with no jackpot victor. That in turn is should bring in more players and more wagers. The odds of winning the half billion dollar jackpot are 1 in 292 million. For some comparison, the chance of being struck by lightning in a year is about one in 960,000.

The odds of winning Powerball have always been pretty bad.

It may be worth spending some time in the auto, though – a single victor of Wednesday’s jackpot could claim the $500 million prize through annuity payments over the next 29 years or take a lump-sum payout of $306 million.

Employees say they’re selling a Powerball ticket to every other customer that comes in, doubling sales and contributing to the $500,000,000 jackpot.

Some players feel they increase their odds of winning by pooling their money with co-workers, with a promise to split the winnings.

It’s been more than five years since a Montanan won the Powerball.

The Montana Lottery announced the estimated Powerball jackpot has been raised to $500 million.

“I think on my first trip I’ll go to Paris”, John Goolsby said, “Then get on a plane and keep going”. But recently they got worse.

The lottery commission noted that Texas has had 15 second-tier Powerball winners of $1 million or $2 million since January 2015.

Last week, retailers in the state sold more than $1.25 million in Powerball tickets, and total sales for the current run beginning November 5 are more than $5.5 million, Woosley said.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Peuto Rico. Without a victor, the next jackpot will be an estimated $675 million.