Powerball jackpot rises to $1.5 billion

Stores throughout the D.C. region said their sales of tickets for the record-setting, $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot – make that $1.5 billion – are skyrocketing on the eve of Wednesday night’s drawing. Before rolling to a $1.3 billion jackpot on Saturday night, Powerball produced hundreds of thousands of winners across Pennsylvania – including a $1 million victor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania lottery officials said.

The odds of winning are 1 in 292 million, and the chances of winning the jackpot got slimmer when Powerball implemented a rule change in October 2015.

The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on November 4.

Players who want the chance to become Florida’s eleventh POWERBALL jackpot victor can purchase their tickets at any of the more than 13,000 Lottery retailers across the state.

While it’s unclear how many people in each state bought a ticket, Powerball released the number of people in each state who won. The Powerball jackpot has grown to over 1 billion dollars, and the drawing is still two days away. For example, if the jackpot is valued at $100 million, the expected value of a ticket is just 66 cents, far less than the $2 you’d be shelling out.

“The more people playing, the more people winning you end up having more ways that you have to split the prize”, said O’Laughlin. Ticket sales have been huge since the jackpot hit $500 million and then blew past that mark.

For the next seven drawings, less than 10 percent of the possible combinations were played as the jackpot increased from $127 million to $255 million. “If you are planning to play, remember that tickets will be sold in Pennsylvania until 9:59 p.m. on Wednesday evening”. As some states, including Washington, do not have income tax, the amount actually won would vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338, according to the New York Lottery. Canadians are allowed to buy tickets for the jumbo multi-state lottery, but they are not sold in Canada. New Yorkers will also have to pay county and city taxes.