Powerball frenzy sweeps USA as jackpot reaches nearly $1.3 billion Cdn

The one in almost 300 million odds of winning Saturday night’s Powerball drawing aren’t discouraging droves of locals from trying to nab the winning ticket to the lottery’s $800 million jackpot. The drawing is the largest Powerball jackpot ever and also the largest jackpot prize of any lottery game in US history. But winning the grand prize won’t be easy with odds sitting at about 1 in 292 million.

The latest estimate, with about 30 hours for players to buy tickets and the jackpot to grow, was that roughly 64 percent of all possible Powerball combination had been claimed, the Lottery official said.

If you made a decision to spend the $2 on your Powerball jackpot ticket hoping to win the $800 million jackpot, don’t forget to tune in either on an app or on television, to see what numbers get drawn.

Once you beat the astronomical odds and win, you’ll get to choose between being paid $800 million through annual payments over 29 years or opting for $496 million in cash.

Another big advantage of the annuity versus the lump sum – besides the fact that you’ll collect millions of dollars more – is that you can’t blow all the winnings as fast.

For the full interview with Mahoney, click on the video player at the top of the page.

Officials say that if no one wins on Saturday, the next jackpot will be $1.3 billion. The drawing will take place Saturday at 10:59 p.m.in Tallahassee, Florida.

Peak ticket sales for Wednesday’s jackpot in Minnesota were estimated at $8,000 per minute, according to a news release from Minnesota Lottery.

Experts are already doling out advice on what to do if you win big.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The previous record was a $656 Mega Millions payout in 2012 given to three separate winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.

Extremely high ticket sales could help drive the jackpot even higher.

“I’d be a fool not to buy them”, Foxworth said. But even lottery officials say they don’t know what to expect.

Each game costs $2.

“When people are involved in something in which it’s very popular and there are a lot of people doing it, they tend to do something that’s more about excitement than the money”, said Dr. Criss”.