Powerball reaches $1.5 billion jackpot; catch up on our coverage

People who bought Powerball tickets have more time to think of elaborate ways to spend the largest lottery jackpot in the world – and they’ll likely be joined by thousands more seeking a quick $1.3 billion…

The tickets that won $1 million matched all five of the white ball numbers but not the Powerball. They plan to use that money toward buying more tickets for the new, higher jackpot.

Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, a group of state lotteries that oversee Powerball, said this is one of the most frequent complaints.

It’s also wrong, though there are anomalies.

The New Hampshire Lottery’s billboards and signs weren’t equipped for a jackpot to reach the billion-dollar mark. The bigger number gets more attention, and Grief said lotteries have taken that approach for decades.

Coller said the possibility of becoming an instant tycoon has generated not only increased sales, but quite a lot of banter as customers wait to get their Powerball tickets. For your financial planning, that’s a $930 million cash value after taxes. The pot was split among three winning tickets with all the right numbers.

There is an asterisk next to the “world’s largest” status of Wednesday’s jackpot, however.

Nobody won the Powerball jackpot over the weekend, which means the prize is up to a record-breaking $1.4 billion.

Though no one won the jackpot prize of $900 million, 25 people won $1 million, three of them in NY.

“I don’t normally buy lottery tickets, but I hear it might be lucky, so I’m crossing my fingers”, said one lottery player. You’re a completely different person.

Powerball’s grand prize has increased steadily for weeks after repeated drawings produced no big winners.

That has made some people uneasy about so much money going to one person when it might be better spent on public needs.