Powerball jackpot world’s largest at $1.3 billion

Almost 500,000 Powerball lottery tickets purchased in Virginia won prizes in Saturday’s drawing – though not the now $1.3 billion jackpot.

Odds are steep to win the record Powerball jackpot Wednesday night – but for the victor, one thing is certain: taxes.

Saturday’s winning numbers were 16, 19, 32, 34 and 57, with a Powerball number of 13.

“We’ve never been at these levels”, said Grief, whose state lottery is part of the Multi-State Lottery Association that runs Powerball.

The winning tickets matched five out of six numbers in the latest game, missing only the Powerball number 13, state lottery officials said in a news release. While you’d make back some of your investment on smaller prizes paid for matching three, four or five numbers plus the Powerball, chances are it still isn’t a good bet.

Powerball starts its jackpot at $40 million and lets it grow if there are no winners.

The jackpot will be the biggest since a $564.1 million Powerball prize shared by players from North Carolina, Texas and Puerto Rico in February 2015.

Dony Elias (26) an attendant at Stardust Liquor in Los Angeles, said 300 customers picked up tickets for Powerball on Friday night at his store. The Powerball is already up to $1.3 billion, and will no doubt increase as ticket sales continue.

“Biggest jackpot in the history of the world”. Another drawing will be held on Wednesday. Powerball combined ticket sales across the 47 participating lotteries was $880,642,344. By making it harder to win a jackpot, the tougher odds made the ever-larger prizes inevitable.

One upside is that Pennsylvania exempts lottery winnings from income taxes as long as the ticket was bought within the state. With each draw, I have a 1-in-292,201,338 chance to strike the jackpot. “We are OFFICIALLY #InSearchofaBILLIONAIRE ($1.3 BILLION)!” the lottery of the District of Columbia, where the USA capital is located, wrote on Twitter around 0700 GMT Sunday.