Powerball Jackpot Skyrockets To $800 Million

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The record-breaking jackpot for the next Powerball drawing continued to grow Friday, ballooning to $800 million.

When no one one Wednesday night's $500 million Powerball drawing, the jackpot for Saturday night's drawing quickly rose to $675 million. By Thursday afternoon, the total was $700 million.

As of late Friday morning, Saturday's Powerball jackpot was at $800 million, with plenty of time to grow even larger by the 10 p.m. drawing. As it stands, if taken as a lump sum payment, a single winner in Saturday's drawing could take home $496 million before taxes.

The previous largest Powerball jackpot was $590.5 million, won by Gloria MacKenzie of Florida in May 2013. The previous largest overall lottery jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions game split by three winners in March 2012, including Merle and Patricia Butler, of Red Bud, Illinois, who took home a $218.67 million share, the largest prize in Illinois Lottery history.

Could a $1 billion Powerball jackpot be on the horizon? Time will tell.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.