Powerball jackpot jumps to estimated $800 million after latest drawing
SAN FRANCISCO -- The already massive Powerball jackpot keeps on growing and now has hit an estimated $800 million after no winning tickets were sold for Wednesday night's drawing.
The current prize is the second-biggest ever and fifth largest in U.S. lottery history.
The numbers drawn Wednesday were 19 36 37 46 56 with a Powerball of 24.
While there were no winners for the big prize, two tickets purchased in California matched five numbers, winning more than $1.5 million each. One of the tickets was bought in Los Gatos and the other in Rancho Cucamonga. The next drawing will be held Saturday night.
Lines were building at lottery hot spots like 19th Ave Liquor in San Francisco and Lyons Liquor in Oakland as the Powerball jackpot grew ahead of Wednesday night's drawing.
Lottery players will be hoping that lady luck strikes twice in California this month after a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket worth nearly a quarter billion dollars was sold in San Jose on Oct. 15.
In January, winners in California and Wisconsin split the $632.6 million jackpot before a Connecticut winner took home the $185.3 million prize about one month later. In April, an Arizona ticket won $473.1 million, and, in June, the $366.7 million jackpot matched a lottery ticket sold in Vermont.
Powerball's biggest jackpot was also the largest ever won in any lottery anywhere in the world, a colossal $1.586 billion in January 2016. It was shared by ticketholders in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Powerball jackpot winners have the option of getting their prize in an immediate lump sum, which would amount to an estimated $383.7 million in cash value if someone wins Saturday, or as an annuity. That option pays out the full jackpot amount over roughly 30 years. All of that would be before taxes.
The jackpot began building on August 6th and has rolled over 35 times in the span of nearly three months. While there hasn't been a Powerball jackpot winner since early August, there have been plenty of winners of lesser amounts to go around.
So far, more than 55.4 million tickets have been sold in California in between jackpots and nearly 2.1 million of those tickets have been winners on some level.
Among the winners was a ticket worth $2.595 million sold in Daly City. It matched five of the six winning numbers from the August 31st draw.
"People typically tend to think just about the jackpot, which is understandable when it gets this big," said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery spokeswoman. "But remember the odds of winning Powerball at any prize level are about 1 in 25, so even when someone doesn't hit it big, there's a good chance of winning something any time you play."
