Powerball jackpot at $1.5 billion

Sure, the allure of winning $1.4 billion this Wednesday is great, but most could probably retire from the lump sum taken from a $31 million jackpot. Matching all five numbers without the Powerball will get you a cool $1 million, at the odds of one in 11.7 million, according to Powerball’s website. The odds of winning are 1 in 292 million. The Powerball jackpot has grown to over 1 billion dollars. Many of those tickets are worth between $1 and $5, but some folks never realize that they have a life-changing prize in their pocket. Here are six fun facts about the largest jackpot ever. Previous year sales fell nationally by 19 percent.

And they bet right. A face of the NY lottery says it is apparent that those who sell Powerball tickets also have lady luck riding on their shoulders. Anndrea Smith, 30, said Saturday that she already had spent more than she usually does on Powerball tickets. Even the estimated cash value of the jackpot – around $930 million – generates an expected value north of $3.50.

Head over to the USA Mega Jackpot Analysis site for a breakdown of every states’ tax rules in relation to the Powerball. That’s only 46.5% of the advertised $900 million jackpot.

Plus, most states would take a chunk, something winners in Florida, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming wouldn’t have to worry about because those states have no income tax. The cash option for Wednesday’s drawing will be $868 million. Seventy-five percent of all the possible combinations were purchased before Saturday’s drawing and lottery officials expect that enough tickets will be sold to cover about 80 percent by Wednesday – about 95 percent of Powerball tickets have computer-generated numbers. Give it a try.

New Jersey sold $39,9 million in Powerball tickets. between Thursday and Saturday.

Jeffery Grayson, 56, of Rochester, nearly didn’t, and now he’s a millionaire.