Will Powerball roll over?

We're at a familiar level of the Powerball jackpot.  The past three Powerball jackpots have been won at or below this level (one was won at only $60 million).  Will it hit again Wednesday 4/4/12 or will it actually make it to $80 million for Saturday 4/7/12?

I'm going to buy a ticket just to see what happens. Maybe $70M is a special amount now. lol

I should have mentioned, I voted "roll over" because I'm not playing Wednesday, since neither today, tomorrow, Tuesday, or Wednesday is a date ending in "0".

Interestingly, according to the Texas Lottery Report website, Powerball sales were $38.3 million (19.65 million tickets) for last night's draw, so if it rolls Wednesday, the pot might actually make it OVER $80 million if they sell as many tickets for Wednesday's draw as they did for Saturday's.  I guess the Mega Millions record jackpot mania created more awareness of both jackpot games, seeing as every lottery state has both, except for FL, which has only PB, and CA, which has only MM.

I vote for it hitting on Wednesday and continually hit between 40 and 70 million.  what chaos would that bring to those who run PB.

With odds similar to those of MM, there is no logical reason why it shouldn't roll over as many times as MM.  The fact that that fewer people are playing it because of its higher price should make it roll over even more.  The frequent wins right after rising its price was unusual and came at a bad time since they were hoping to generate larger jackpots and convince everyone that a higher price offered some advantages.

When MM went to it present format in 2005, they said jackpots could approach a half billion or more.  It finally happened and it may take as long for PB to reach its potential high jackpots too.   I expect it will roll over several times before some one wins it.

If Powerball rolls over 18 times, like Mega Millions just did, its jackpot would be well over 2 BILLION!! I don't think we'll ever see Powerball roll that many times, simply because it takes the game fewer rolls to get to eye popping jackpots than Mega Millions does, thanks to the $2 ticket price.

"If Powerball rolls over 18 times, like Mega Millions just did, its jackpot would be well over 2 BILLION!!"

How do you figure?  PB is lucky to afford its minimum rollover amount of $10M, 18x$10M +$40M starting jackpot=min.$220M which is a long way from $2000M($2B).  MM had sales of $190M and $360Ms during its last two rollovers.

If ticket sales are $20.4 million, there is only a 5.9% chance the jackpot will be hit in any drawing. With a 94.1% chance of the jackpot rolling, it really doesn't take much thought to say the jackpot will roll. Those voting the jackpot will roll are just stating the obvious and those saying the jackpot will be hit are just guessing.

"will it actually make it to $80 million for Saturday 4/7/12?"

I read a figure of 32.5% of ticket sales goes to the jackpot so with a current cash value of 42.6 million and with typical expected ticket sales, the advertised jackpot should be around $80 million. Does the size of the jackpot change the odds of over 175 million to 1 against winning?

Predictions: The PB will rollover to $80 million Wed.

MM $12 million Jackpot will be won today, somewhere in the Bronx, New York.

The PB will however be won on Sat.

Starting when the MM jackpot was $241 million on March 20, ticket sales of that drawing and the next three totaled $1.03 billion, but $652 million of that was wagered on last drawing. The final cash value of the jackpot was $473.6 million. When the jackpot was $72 million, ticket sales were $23 million. Ticket sales only gradually increased and didn't take off until the jackpot reached $363 million.

If players don't believe the jackpot will be hit on any particular drawing, why are they playing?

Powerball estimated their minimum number of players pretty well so they survived when all the attention went toward MM when its jackpot exceeded $200M, but I don't their sales will ever drive them to a 2 billion dollar jackpot within 18 drawings.  I could be wrong and time will tell if I am.

Everyone who plays the lotteries knows the jackpot can be hit at any time and hope it's them that hits it.

Well, how about that, it rolled over.  This time, based on total sales to date of around $126 million since the last jackpot won (~ 83 million tickets), and if they sell at least 15 million tickets for Saturday as I estimate ($30 million), PB's estimated cash jackpot of $48.6 million is actually LOWER than the estimated allocated amount of ~$50 million ($156 million * .3197555).  Of course, PB usually skims money from the jackpot fund in order to fund its set prize/guaranteed jackpot reserve, as per their rules they can skim as much as 2.5% of draw sales from the jackpot for it, making the JP fund temporarily as low as 29.47555% of sales.

YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT.

I hope Powerball eclipses $365 million so my vote is yes.

I doubt PB will reach $365M because there is a very high playership at the starting $40M jackpot= more combinations being sold= having more winners below $100M.