Powerball jackpot increases to $1.4B as ticket sales surge

In all, the Virginia Lottery says more than 489,000 tickets bought in the state won prizes in Saturday’s drawing.

Powerball officials estimate this Wednesday’s jackpot will rise to $1.3 billion.

According to the rules, the victor can choose to be paid the full jackpot in annual instalments over 29 years or take a lower one-off payment in cash.

Camelot said it expected to have sold at least 400 tickets per second, online and by retailers, in the final hours before sales stopped at 7.30pm on Saturday.

Lottery officials say they’ll also stress the message on social media, the entity’s website and electronic billboards.

The recent run of rollovers follows the number of balls in the draw increasing from 49 to 59 in October, reducing the odds on a player’s six numbers coming up from around one in 14 million to one in 45 million. But far from hiding the change, the organization trumpeted it as part of an effort to build larger jackpots while also giving away more prizes of $2 million or less. When he checked his ticket Sunday morning, Brewer discovered he had matched the first five numbers, winning $1 million. He was just one number away from the record-breaking jackpot.

“It’s insane how big this jackpot is”, said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California Lottery, confirming that the current Powerball prize was record setting.

The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on November 4 and has been growing ever since.

“Every time it gets this high and into this kind of frenzy we always joke, like, it’s going to go over a billion, what are we going to do what about the signs”.

The purchase was made at the Rose Hill Card and Video in the Rose Hill Shopping Center, the state Lottery said.

Cindy Smith, the deli manager at York’s Park Grocery on Campbell Street, said lottery sales have “at least doubled” since the January 6 jackpot went unclaimed.

In Omaha, Les Wheeler said he probably overdid it by buying $30 worth of tickets for Saturday’s drawing with a few friends, but they plan to do the same for this next jackpot.

Lottery officials in IN call the jackpot “unprecedented”.