Powerball fever sweeping the nation
UPDATE: Will roll to $900 million if nobody wins tonight
By Todd Northrop
As if $425 million or $500 million isn't enough, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) announced today that tonight's Powerball jackpot has been increased again — to $550 Million.
Lottery Post reported yesterday that Powerball tickets have been selling nationally at a pace of more than 100,000 tickets per minute (see Powerball selling 100,000 tickets per minute, Lottery Post, Nov. 27, 2012).
This continuous, massive stream of ticket buying has prompted MUSL to increase the estimated annuity jackpot for tonight to a knee-weakening $550 million, with a cash option of $360.2 million.
And the final jackpot tally after all the sales are counted will likely exceed that number, sinced lotteries typically post conservative jackpot estimates prior to the drawing.
Surely, tickets are being sold at such a rapid pace that the vast majority of all possible number combinations are being covered — multiple times for many combinations — but one still has to ask: what if just one person wins $360 million in cash? It's hard for most people to even picture a number that large, let alone manage that much cash.
Perhaps more interesting to imagine is, what if nobody wins tonight?
Well, we actually know, because MUSL has announced that if no one matches the winning numbers in tonight's drawing, the jackpot will roll to an estimated $900 million for Saturday's drawing.
And with the inevitable increases in jackpot size before the drawing, we will likely see the world's first billion-dollar lottery jackpot. If nobody wins tonight.
Lottery players seeking to check the winning numbers Wednesday night are urged to use USA Mega (www.usamega.com). State lottery Web sites are normally brought to a standstill during busy periods, while USA Mega normally remains responsive.
Powerball drawing results will be posted immediately after the 10:59 pm drawing at USA Mega. The number of winners and new jackpot will be announced after all participating Powerball states have reported their data, which normally occurs within a couple of hours after the drawing.
Tickets will remain on sale until around 10:00 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, although players should check with a lottery retailer in their state for the exact sales cutoff time. Players are advised not to wait until the last minute.
The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 175 million. The odds of winning any of the Powerball prizes are approximately 1 in 32.
Lottery players can see an after-tax analysis of the current Powerball jackpot by visiting USA Mega's Jackpot Analysis page.
Powerball features nine different prize levels, ranging from $4 all the way up to the jackpot. Players can win even if they just match one number — the Powerball number.
States also offer the Power Play option for an extra dollar per ticket purchased. The Power Play multiplies any non-jackpot prizes won by a fixed amount, depending on the prize level won.
Players who purchase the Power Play and win second prize will automatically have their prize increased by 2x to $2 million.
One more raise before the draw tonight!!!
I am hoping for another increase at or around 6pm. If they market it at 600m with a few hours left to go surely they can beat the MM March record!
There will be a winner tonight and I hope it is me. I can't wait to be cursed by the lottery.
wow. still about 8 hours untill the draw. This jackpot is going to get bigger cause most people wait til the last minute to buy their ticket.
I think it will , when people get off work, we'll see another spike.
I said 550 b4, but i think your right. My pool already asked me to get more tics.
Good luck to everyone.
$550 Million..............
Nice!
Meh, don't care, still just want the million dollar second prize.
Wow... My dream is starting to come true tonight folksss..... although I'm in CA but still got some ticket from friend purchase for me.
I don't think I can concentrate on my work now.... my god help me
UPDATE: Will roll to $900 million if nobody wins tonight
That of course actually means it would be more than a Billion dollars by Saturday night.
I hope people aren't holding onto their grocery money hoping it rolls again - lol.
I'm curious as to by 10pm tonight, the percentage played of all possible combinations of numbers. 90%? 95%? I suppose with dupe sets of numbers, there's a small chance that nobody could hit, just as 3 people could hit.
It sure would be fun though to actually see a more than 1 Billion dollar jackpot. Since currently it jumped 100 from 325 to 425, and up to 550 since (600 by draw time?), to raise it by about 300 right from the start instead of 100, we could be looking at 1.25 Billion by Saturday night.
My guess is 625 by draw time.. a billion would be insane if it doesn't hit... Way to start December out and end the year!! Couldn't even fathom being the sole winner of that jackpot!!!
Roll over baby, roll over! I want to see people blow their entire paycheck trying to win a half a billion cash value! I will use a multi-pronged attack to win...subscription, a few QPs and OPs at store, a few of both online. Then I wouldn't check my numbers until Monday.
I could!
Seriously, if it rolled to a billion, I would probably buy $100 dollars worth of tickets.
However, I think there may be up to 3 winners tonight.
I thought maybe I have spent $20 on this one, but I think I may have to buy another 10 picks, so another $20.
Yeah, I think I could handle winning. :-D
It's mind boggling to think that if nobody wins tonight, then in just 3 days from now, the cash payout after taxes will basically be as much as the just about half Billion advertised jackpot is right now.
It only takes one ticket to win.And thats all I bought.
I won $3 on my single $1 mega millions ticket last night (1 numbers plus mega ball), so the only $2 powerball ticket I bought at the same time, was essentially free.
I'm a believer in 1 set of numbers, leave it up to fate. Even if you have 175,000 sets of numbers, that only covers 1/10th of 1% of the 175 million combinations of numbers. Back in March, an NBA player bought 10,000 mega millions tickets, but he didn't win the jackpot.
The occasional player jumping in on a big jackpot would be expected to spend his mortgage chasing a dream.
The experienced player knows that the major part of his investment should come from refining his strategy to select the right numbers to build the best combinations.
Laziness leads to waste. It may seem convenient to walk into a store and demand a specific number of QPs and be done with it, but at the end of the day I will be able to pay my bills, will he?
"UPDATE: Will roll to $900 million if nobody wins tonight".......
With current interest rates the cash value is about 65% of the advertised annuity. About 64 cents of each ticket goes to the jackpot. That means that the increase in the advertised jackpot is pretty close to the number of tickets they expect to sell, so the $225 million increase from the last drawing means they're confident that they'll sell 225 million tickets. If it climbs to 600 by tonight it would mean sales are closer to 275 million tickets.
Here are some rough estimates of what percentage of combinations are used at given sales levels:
225 million tickets about 77%
250 million tickets about 82%
275 million tickets about 84%
300 million tickets about 86%
Selling 90% of combinations would probably take an absolute minimum of 350 million tickets. Figure 95% is somewhere north of 450 million.
That's a rough approximation based on probability and some assumptions about additional duplicates based on people choosing non-random combinations. That means there's about a 20 to 15% chance of a rollover, depending on how high sales go and what numbers are drawn. Lots of high numbers are more likely to result in a rollover, while all birthday numbers will almost certainly result in at least one winner, and probably more.
Personally I prefer MM and part of me wants to see them keep the record, but it would certainly be wild to see a real jackpot pass the half billion dollar mark. People get irrational, but I'm not convinced that a rollover will take the advertised jackpot to a billion, since it's possible that we're close to the saturation point. Depending on where it finishes, reaching abillion would require selling 30 to 40% more tickets than get sold for this drawing. OTOH, even if some people burn out and don't play again if it rolls the advertised jackpot only needs to reach $764 million for the cash prize to reach half a billion.
Thanks KY Floyd.
I bought two more "Donald's" for good measure.....
Its something that only 5 white balls and 1 red powerball is all it takes, when the other 54 white balls and 38 red powerballs are worthless. With the odds around 175 million to one. I think using stategy will greatly reduce those odds by tens of millions. By using statistics and previos results from the past 26 drawings for picking numbers would really increase your chances.
One of these qps are extremely close to one of my self picks!!!!
Your right, that's why I played THIS wheel.........
Wheel: Pick 5 Key 4 if 4 of 10
Tickets: 25
Description: Minimum 4-number match, if 4 numbers drawn fall within your set of 10 numbers.
Input: 10, 22, 31, 9, 39, 47, 14, 56, 3, 20
1. 09-10-22-31-56
2. 10-22-31-39-56
3. 10-20-22-31-47
4. 03-10-14-22-31
5. 09-10-22-39-47
6. 09-10-14-20-22
7. 03-09-10-20-22
8. 03-10-22-39-47
9. 10-14-20-22-39
10. 10-14-22-47-56
11. 03-10-20-22-56
12. 09-10-20-31-39
13. 09-10-14-31-47
14. 03-09-10-31-47
15. 10-14-31-39-47
16. 03-10-20-31-39
17. 03-10-31-47-56
18. 10-14-20-31-56
19. 09-10-14-39-56
20. 03-09-10-14-39
21. 03-09-10-47-56
22. 09-10-20-47-56
23. 10-20-39-47-56
24. 03-10-14-39-56
25. 03-10-14-20-47
No surprise....... Donald and I play these kind of play slips all week long for big jackpots.....
the person who won Mega Millions laste night muct be loving all this attention on PB. He/she can collect their money in peace.
...hey....
one of those lines has my same pb # plus 2 matches on the regular play line.
I see they're pitching that pb of 21 around pretty good too.
If the "21" was good enough for Donald its good enough for me...... lol. lol.
Save your money because I'm going to win it. Just kidding, good luck to everyone.
I hope you do win........ I will consider my loss a worthy contribution.... lol. lol.
It is easier to match red power ball, then match combinations, because this ball you are choosing among only 39 balls, while combinations you are choosing among hundreds of millions. If you have numbers that you believe in, play them using all 39 red balls, so you make 39 tickets fro one combination you believe in. That way, if your combination is good, one of the tickets will have also proper power ball, increasing your win. :)
...and on top of everything else, the winner(s) of this Powerball is going to have perfect timing, pulling in that huge jackpot just before huge tax increases go into effect.
It's too bad the governments get to get their shares first. Wouldn't that be something as one of your first acts as the Powerball winner was to sit down and write a check north of $90,000,000.00 made out to the "Internal Revenue Service" and signed with your name? Just wow!
1 of 35
Unless I'm missing something, isn't all the talk about studying past numbers, etc, all illogical? The machine can't read the numbers of the balls, it simply just randomly spits out 5 of 59, and 1 of 35.
People tend to say things like "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, powerball 6 never happens". With 175 million combos of numbers though, at 104 drawing per year, it would take 1,682,692 years for all those combos of numbers to be drawn. In the 20 years since Powerball started, we've only seen just over 2000 drawings.
It is not illogical, if one knows what to look for. As for Power Ball Jack pot, just play your favorite combination with each of Power Ball numbers. It is worthy risk.
There's a clear distinction between what's POSSIBLE and what's PROBABLE. We build our strategies on the latter.
Yeah, we think you "missed the boat" Frank.........
A guy in AZ tried that but only used 5 of the power balls. His result was a $5 million dollar win.
If any of you did not blink an eye to buy a piece of junk for a dollar at the dollar store, while it is not worth a dollar, then why would you not spend 35 dollars taking chance on 550 millions?
Because its $70. NOT $35.
maybe his wife took that to..
Bad Hubby....... NO BOAT........
what is that saying the creek with out a boat! thats Frank
He is in a creek and has a paddle but NO BOAT........ He will need to Ore his way to shore......
Life is a gamble
Well Folks, it's going to be a good night for someone, I hope it's me getting a piece of the pot. I believe it will be won by multiple winners tonight! Just have that feeling. I do have my 20.00 dollars worth without powerplay on them. Purchased one ticket in a nearby town where I live, bought the other one in another town. Leaving later to pick up my wife from work, might just buy another ticket after I pick her up around 7:00 pm. Maybe stop on way home to get me another ticket. Maybe a 4.00 dollar ticket will do me. Good luck to all the members here in the USA MEGA lottery post. If I should win, I'm getting a Trust made up to keep my identity from the public view. Don't won't all the media attention. Y'all have a nice night. Good luck to all!!!!
Will it go up to 6 at 6?
Fair enough.
I say yes! Only 5 hrs 50 minutes left til draw time....I'm excited!!!!
What if they had a winner in the Virgin Islands tonight! That would really be something to talk about on Thursday morning. Rhode Island had two before. I believe it will have a whole bunch of winners with the 5 numbers correct. Can't wait to see if I'm one of the Lucky one's tonight....
The timing would be perfect to build a last minute buying frenzy. All the news stations would be able to run with it.
I agree. I might grab two more tickets before the draw. I have a taste for chinese tonight and they are located right next door to a mom and pop shop.
I agree to that! Just think if they had some extra money on hand, before they collect on their winning, they could go out and buy a bunch more for the powerball tonight too.....
Be sure to play the numbers on your fortune cookie!
I sure will because the fortune's have been crappy lately.
What a beautiful full moon tonight! looks like an orange, from my home! Might be the good fortune we all need to have for tonight!
Me too
I got my 3 dollar powerball ticket
I keep clicking the "refresh" button on the PB Main Page but the numbers aren't updating. Can anyone tell me what the latest increase takes the JP to? Lol!
No problem, but if you win I'll expect you to make sure that Angelas Pizza gives free pizza to anyone who says they know Frank for the next couple of months.
There's another increase over the 550?
I have a whole $0 invested in tonights drawing. I had a combined ticket with my brother that won $4 last time so we got two more combined tickets for tonight and that is it. I have played the lottery long enough to know that buying huge amounts of tickets really does nothing to increase your chances even though in theory it sounds like it would.
Haha....well, hmmmm..... do you live around here? Or did you google something like "pizza 12449" ?
so if you win, are you going to prowl the internet for 'big and beautiful' women?
Maybe it's the IT Manager's turn to get the coffee. Yeah. That's it.
I think he Already does that & unclogs them BIG womans toilets for FREE SERVICE
It's going to be won tonight! I do not see it rolling over. Yeah, I said that last week, but it's going to be won tonight. I have my lucky tickets. I bought two tickets and my mother and stepfather bought two tickets yesterday. People thought MM was going to rollover again and it didn't. Three states won.
My uncle would. He loves big women. He's skinny, but he has always loved big women. It's his business anyway.
Alright...it's official now.
I just saw some guy on Fox News in New York being interviewed about tonite's drawing.
He de-bunked all you conspiracy theorists that think all the jackpots are won in New York.
He said "I dunno, it always seems like somebody in Nebrska, Wyoming or Alaska won it." Somebody in Long Beach outta win it." (Long Beach NY is on Long Island and was devestated Huricane Sandy)
How they're gonna win it in Wyoming or Alaska, I dont know, cuz they aint got PowerBall in Wyoming or Alaska!!!!
The Mega Millions website says only one ticket from Georgia won the jackpot. Whomever they are, they are double lucky because no reporters are going to hound them for interviews when Powerball has the entire spotlight.
stories like this are why I call Fox News, "faux news," because they are the fake news
Hahaha..... Me too!!!!!
MM got their shine last March, but yeah the winner doesn't have to worry too much.
I usually buy powerball maybe 3 times a year for one line on the ticket. I really broke my trend today. I bought one ticket with 2 lines.
I am really sweating it out about losing that four dollars.
The OP said they interviewed a guy who said he doesn't believe it's a New York thing. How that interview a lie? MSNationalBarackChannel is pretty terrible, too.
I don't watch mainstream media much. With the internet there are better places to get news. It was the whole Wyoming or Alaska claim that made me think it's BS. They don't even have lottery in those states.
Using the "conspiracy theorists" excuse again to prove something, just doesn't work anymore, especially coming from the likes of foxnews. Try the drudgereport or RT.com for real news.
$550 million dollars. I think the winner will be tonight and will be from one of the mid-west states. Most likely be a group of workers that pooled together.
Hoping it's not some rich a-hole that has more money than he knows what to do with it. lol
I would be very surprised if this rolled over again.
Now why doesn't the government start a national lottery? Keep from jumping over the "fiscal cliff".
I'm a bit south of you, but in that area often enough. Used to know a bunch of IBM'ers back when they were in town. Decided a long time ago that Angela's has the best pizza in that area. We had lunch there when we went up to Krause's candy to get some stuff for Thanksgiving.
Looks like they're sticking at $550. Maybe that's the set up for a wild ride to the weeknd.
You just reminded me that Angela's has 2 slices and a soda for $3.25 on Wednesdays. So, off I go now for that.
Great minds think alike.
I am starting to think the same thing.
With the current rate of sales there's no way it shouldn't have increased again.
They know two increases in one day would send people into hysteria
I live in the mid-west.
The guy who was interviewed said that. The OP said they interviewed some guy. The guy got it wrong.
Me too!!! Southern Indiana!
Kinda feel like its a rip off if somebody wins (for them) without another jump.... Just because of the massive jump it'll be to 900,000,000.. then again... Who knows!! 2.5 more hours :)
Is it true what they say about Indiana?
I got a family member to get me (or I guess 'us') a ticket. We have texts that show an agreement and a picture of the ticket so I can see numbers. This is about as much of a pool as I'd like, but it was too quick of a decision to simply have it sent out.
So I'll be rooting for a Texas winner tonight, though I'm thinking a north-eastern state. I'll be following my MM routine of not looking at results until the next day (I still don't know any of the numbers I have on my multi-draw QP for my current MM slip).
If someone won though, they would get more than the $550m annuity right? They'd get whatever the amount would have been had nobody won? I'm pretty sure past JP winners have had the higher amount on their check.
I am certain it will increase, but we won't know that unless we watch the actual drawing where they publish that final figure.
I just would have liked to see another increase, but the only thing I should be concerned with seeing at this stage is one of my lines come up in full - lol!
Um... Maybe... What exactly is it they say??!! Lol
$900 million Saturday :)
I just ran down and bought a $10 ticket at 9 13. I looked down at estimated jackpot and it shows $500 million. Wonder why at at 9 13 its still showing 500 mill when it was raised to 550 earlier today?
No clue... Mine never shows jackpot amount
Im from WV and our tickets show Estimated Jackpots for 3 games at bottom Poweball Mega Million and Hot Lotto I bought a ticket Sunday and it shows Powerball 425 mill and Mega Mill 49 mill. Tonight ticket shows Mega Mill 12 mill which is correct since someone hit it last night and it reset to 12 Mill. I know they upped the PB to 550 earlier today so i was just curious to why it still showing 500 instead of 550. I actually thought maybe they had sold so many tickets earlier today that it had gone to 600 mill and thought thats what it was when i first glanced at it but it shows 500 mill. No big deal i guess especially seeing how im in WV and we are always 20 years behind rest the country in most things LOL.
Does anyone know why the powerball page, usamega, etc, never reflect the jackpot amount at the time of the drawing? When they update with a winner after midnight, it always shows the dollar amount from earlier, not the final amount which they say when powerball does the live drawing.
I don't think you actually checked USA Mega or Lottery Post, because they were both updated to $580 million right at 10:59 pm EST when the final tally was announced.
Birthday numbers tonight. Probably multiple winners.
Too bad cause seeing a billion dollar jackpot would have been surreal. I wonder how long we need to wait....
Woah, traffic jam! It appears that lots and lots of people are trying to access the site at once! Maybe it's because of the $550 MILLION Powerball jackpot?
No worries though because you can still find updated winning numbers and jackpot information below. hoosierlottery.com will return once traffic slows down.
Thanks for your patience!
heck i couldnt even get online this is what it says
yes that would be awesome
Whew, That was a sweater.
Got three white balls on one line. Made three dollars so that should about break me even on the pwerball game for the year.
its going to roll :)
really
At least 2 winners from 2 states.
Boo :( dang birthday numbers
it, there goes my guest of around 5% chance of billion buck jackpot if it could roll tonite
as low of a chance it had rolling over, i had hoped it would happen
that's 2 lucky winners. sure over 100m cash atfer all taxes
they will be epic rich,and i hope to see great story out of it for me to read and enjoy
or better, no story as they claim in a trust,and i know we don't have morons with the money then LOL
lucky dogs will enjoy life , i hope really smart winners won it, i want people to enjoy the jackpot and don't make anyone else lives a living hell by giving money to morons to buy drugs /giving in to greedy idiots asking for money
lets enjoy the media ride to come, they be atfer these winners........ and i hope the 2 states that won, have no income tax on winnings and allow trusts, etc
as that be nice for morons in govt not to get any more money then they should
and less stress on the winners etc
I have a gut feeling it's going to roll. Me, I didn't match any numbers! If it rolls, I'm going to be in awe! Hope everyone did well tonight.
how does he know two people won?
Ax him.
i take hes word for it, he has a lottery site and and knows where to see stats the states send in somewhere like pb offical site
powerball can't offical say how many won ityet, to all states are done reporting in
but by the states that have reported in, we know there at lest 2 winners by the data is what i think tod is saying
and i think he seen that. what's the states tod?
do we know of who won it so far?
thro he also saying, not all states reported in fuly yet, so there could be more then 2, we have to wait and see later tonite
that's how i think tod knows,and am taking hes word for it, as he be the guy to know these things before majority of rest of us, who don't brother looking at the stats atm
that or he taking a wild guesting,and i just talked bs this whole reply lol
also tod, your site getting hammered
The webpage at https://www.lotterypost.com/ is currently unavailable. It may be overloaded or down for maintenance. rofl, getting that a lot
if at least one of the numbers picked tonight was greater than 31 I might agree with you. Lots of people play birthdays and important dates so I'd fall out of my chair in shock if the jackpot rolls.
True whiteballz but the question is did they play those numbers in the order they wer drawn.
They don't have to be in order. Any order is fine, just so long as they match.
Perro stop trying to ruin my lottery day dream.THIS THING SHOOULD ROLL OVER.
Was the jp won? Usa mega says 580 mill
For some reason I'm feeling a bit wary about someone choosing three birthday numbers in the 20's. I will be wrong, of course, but I want this sucker to roll on.
It was 580 at the time of drawing. If it rolls, it will be 900 million.
It ROLLLSSSSS $1.5 billion.
TELL ME IT ROLLED>
Calm down there.
In another thread, Todd just said it was won by at least two people in two different states.
come on, just roll one more, wait till I get to Arizona
Ah, bummer. But, congratulations to those two folk (or group of folks).
When i saw all the low numbers that were drawn i didnt figure it would roll. Oh well it was fun day dreaming about it.
roll
Is this a guess or a fact?
Thinking that Todd does have an inside scoop in things, fact. He's usually reliable.
How does Todd know theres 2 winners ?I want a billion dollars for myself.
Todds is ruining dreams NOOOOOOOOOOOO>
I want it to roll too but we need to face facts. Calendar numbers, numbers less than 32 and the fact that the jackpot was so high bringing in casual players, usually mean someone played those numbers, meaning the jackpot popped.
I'm 95% sure it didn't roll if it does I'll gladly eat my words.
Im sure it was hit. Had 4 17 22 23. just my luck only got 2+1.
Do you actually know how many millions equal one billion?
rofl nice try
A hint - the answer is a number somewhere between 999 and 1,001.
hoosierlottery.com shows two 1 million dollar winners but no jackpot winner. of corse it might not be fully updated yet
Frank 1000 millions .(Having fun with this ).
3 second place in conn
Ohh baby Let it Roll
Kinda nervous to check tickets now after hearing that.
1 winner in MI
how you know?
and NY
and 1 winner in Alaska
where you see that at?
alaska don't even hav e a lottery
u people be trollin these poor folks wanting a roll lol
they dont know, theyre just guessing
Incorrect.
Michigan has reported on its website only 2 2nd Prize winners as its top prize winners for 11/28/12
Nah...I got te winner in MI. Just about shat my pants when I just looked
ok lol
its back to 40
Frenzy over, no roll.
arizona and missouri
Exactly!!!
I'm the OP, and you get it!! The others who've responded to your posts dont get it!
BTW, The "Fox News" I was referring to was the local FOX New York City affiliate, FOX5-NY, not the nationally syndicated FOX News Channel.
I simply thought it was hilarious that some local yokel in New York City said it appeared to him that all Jackpot winners come from some place other than New York, "like Alaska and Wyoming", which are two states that do not have PowerBall. If you've read many posts here at The Lottery Post, (as I have) then you know that people living in states other than New York habitually complain that New York has more winners than anywhere else. I guess it all depends upon where you live that determines your perspective on various things.
As an after thought, the complainers are probably correct! There's 19 million people living in The State of New York (which is the third most populated state behind California and Texas), as compared to Nebraska where less than 3 million live. Maybe that has a little something to do with more tickets being sold in New York, and the probability being higher that some one in New York will hit the jackpot before some one living in Nebraska.
California (population 37 million) would probably produce a lot of Powerball jackpot winners too, if they had PowerBall, which they dont!
If nobody won the prize...I guess this will be the largest jackpot winning ever... But I am crossing my fingers that I will win it...I will win soon...