By Todd Northrop
Just 12 hours after the initial Powerball jackpot estimate of $475 million was set, lottery officials announced that strong sales have pushed the official estimate for Saturday's drawing to $550 million.
The current jackpot is the second largest in Powerball history and the third largest jackpot in U.S. history.
The new estimated lump-sum cash value of the jackpot is $350.1 million.
Judging from past jackpot run-ups, it is almost certain that the jackpot will be raised again before the Saturday drawing.
Early Thursday morning, around 12:30 am Eastern Time, USA Mega announced the new record Powerball jackpot of $475 million after nobody won in the Wednesday evening drawing.
Now, just 12 hours later, the jackpot estimate for Saturday's Powerball drawing has been raised to $550 million, with a lump-sum cash option of $350.1 million.
That's an increase of $186.1 million from the Wednesday jackpot of $363.9 million. And yet, the jackpot will probably be even higher by the time the drawing occurs at 10:59 pm Eastern Time (7:59 pm Pacific Time) Saturday night.
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 $350 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 Saturday?
Lottery players seeking to check the winning numbers Saturday 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 typically until 10:45 pm Eastern Time on Saturday, 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.
this is awesome! I already have my tickets. Do you?
I hope it rolls saturday and then like 5-6 people win on Wednesday.... That'd b awesome... just to see how high it'd go!!!!
if no one wins Saturday? say hello to billion jackpot
thro i give it less then 5% chance of rollin, so many numbers will be in play for this draw, if not played twice
real story is will only 1 ticket win, only 2 jackpots to get to this level before have had more then 1 winner to spit the jackpot
350 cash ha, its 211,460,400 atfer 39.6 max fed tax rate folks
ofc that be much higher come draw
point is 200 plus million atfer's all taxs, u be among level of top 0.01% rich
and travel the world in only best way possible, by private jet
plus u can do this
man this thing just so much already , my jaw will drop if it rolls
I knew Todd would eventually finish his article and update the increase. People need to give him some slack as running this site isn't as easy as it seems.
$550 MILLION: Powerball jackpot
There it is
It's a challenge to keep up with a website
Keep up with the good job ... Todd
keep up
Hey I just noticed that "mcginnin56" hasn't posted in a while. I tried sending him a PM and it says his account is inactive??
Woo Hoo
Someone said earlier that this is the perfect time to hit the MM JP. How I agree.
Thanks Todd you are on top of it
oo yeh keep it rising bby ... predicting
it wil rise to 700 mill. by saturday.
definitely going to be an interesting weekend for certain
Heres what $200,000,000.00 looks like...I'm ready!!
Eh, it's gonna roll again & be hit next Wednesday at a billion $. MM next to follow with a billion $ jackpot. No one can win. The next Powerball winner will make history as being the first winner that it wasn't too easy for them to win.
Lol, theres a very small chance of it rolling again and mm will likely never get to where it did last year let alone a billion.
Nah, it's all probability. MM could reach a trillion given enough time. (Even if there are syndicates who plan to buy every possible combination, there's
a chance they'll accidentally leave 1 out, etc) It may take a googol years or longer, but it will happen, given that it continues for a long enough time.
The chances of the powerball rolling again is actually not THAT low. If I remember correctly, there was something like a 20-30% chance rolling last time,
but there's only 3 days to buy tickets this time.
I wondered where he was also!
The poor fella was stripped of his avatar last time he was on. I guess zero ranking takes the fun out of it.
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Once I win, I'm going to get an entire movie theater room built on my property. Might even make it Imax.
Lots of homes have theaters, but only seat around 30. Imax is overkill.
Yes, overkill. That's what I want! I'm going to get ridiculous with it. You can only get into the theater by driving a go-kart down the track that leads to the room. Otherwise you're gonna be walking for a long time. And instead of stairs in the theater, it's going to be an escalator.
I used to have a Boston Celtics logo as my avatar but it was rudely thrown out lol. So I settled for the one I currently have. Its not cute but it is unique and thats wassup.
If you have people to fill it. go for it. I would hate to see you sitting in there all alone.
You may consider photography from a deep space observatory? Its out of this world!
mcginnin56 's wasn't rudely thrown out..... He was warned several times......
What do you think the new odds will be for winning the JP? They would be far greater than 1 in 175 mill come saturday night.
My guess is, it will be won on Saturday night! Hope there will be multiple winners.
I know. Just think if one person wins it that would be amazing. Out of all the people playing that would be some extreme luck!