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  • Powerball Jackpot Rises To $400 Million

    Powerball Jackpot Rises To $400 Million

    Do you feel lucky?

    If you do and maybe even if you don’t, now is the time to consider snagging a quick pick (or several) and hoping for the best.

    Yesterday’s drawing saw $21,219,895 worth of prizes handed out to over 1,384,629 winners. Including a ticket in Texas going for $2 Million. There were seven $1 million winners. But nobody claimed the big prize, which sent the pot value soaring.

    Depending on where you are, there’s a very good chance that you can get your hands on a Powerball ticket. The game is played in 43 states, Washington D.C. and even the Virgin Islands.

    Expect plenty of Americans from across the country to try their luck in Wednesday’s drawing. If a winning ticket or tickets are sold, the lucky persons will split what could be the sixth largest lottery prize of all time. If the person or persons opt out of annuity payments, the cash option is a staggering $227.8 million.

    The largest jackpot to date was actually a Mega Millions jackpot, which went for a whopping $636 million.

    The big numbers are the Powerball’s best bet in luring ticket buyers as the price of tickets doubled at the start of 2012. The starting jackpot also doubled, to $40 million. The now $2 tickets mean that the jackpot will likely climb faster should there be yet another drawing that doesn’t result in a winner.

    Meanwhile the Mega Millions jackpot is also rising. It sits right now at about $154 million. This means could be seeing back to back winners of major cash prizes in the coming days. We may even witness a new jackpot record in the coming weeks.

    So let’s say you’re feeling lucky after all and get your hands on a winning ticket. What would you do with $400 million dollars? Perhaps you opt to take a cash prize of $200 million after taxes. There is a lot of advice available for lottery winners to help them avoid the pitfalls of winning. If that happens to be you, good luck and don’t spend it all in one place!

    Image via Youtube

  • Powerball Jackpot Remains Unclaimed, Now $284 Mill.

    The multi-state lottery jackpot, which is played in 43 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is now up to an estimated $284 million prize since there were no winners in Sunday’s drawing, according to Lottery Post. The Powerball winning numbers for Saturday, February 8, were 24, 25, 34, 37, and 54, with Powerball number 29.

    If you win, and you are a “take the cash” kind of person, you will walk away with $162.7 million. Saturday was the 13th consecutive drawing without a winner. This particular jackpot started out as a prize of $40 million way back on Dec. 28th.

    Not everyone went home empty handed, however. There were a few $1 million dollar winners on Saturday, those that matched the first 5 numbers. There were 2 from California, 1 from Colorado, 1 from Florida, 1 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from Oklahoma, 1 from Texas, and 1 from West Virginia.

    Had those lucky folks opted for Power Play, costing another $1, they would have won $2 million. Not a single one did.

    Also, 48 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000, 10 of which spent the extra $1 for Power Play and walked away with $20,000.

    Perhaps this would be helpful:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKvLSWacWUs

    The Power Play option returned on the January 22nd drawing, and was welcome back with open arms. The option only costs another dollar, and if you match all five white balls, you get the Match 5 prize which will pay $2 million, regardless of the multiplier number drawn, according to Market Wired.

    “New and different ways to win will bring more excitement for our players,” Karen Bach, director of budget, products and communications for the Arizona Lottery said of the Power Play option when it was reintroduced. “We’re expecting the return of the enhanced Power Play multiplier to be popular with our players, and we look forward to awarding even bigger prizes to Arizona Powerball winners in the coming months.”

    Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 pm Eastern Time and tickets cost $2 each.

    Image via youtube

  • Powerball Jackpot Climbs To $194 Million

    The winning numbers for the Powerball drawing on January 29th were 11, 23, 28, 32, and 47; the Powerball number was 20. The Power Play number was 2.

    There were no winners of the $171 million Powerball jackpot prize. As the winning numbers continue to elude eager participants, the jackpot continues to grow.

    Not everyone walked away empty handed, as winnings for the last drawing totaled roughly $8.66 million. There were 592,462 winners in all.

    The latest failure to claim the major prize resulted in the lottery jackpot increasing to an impressive $194 million. The cash value of the jackpot for those seeking a lump sum would be $110.7 million before taxes.

    If the huge jackpot alone isn’t enough to lure participants, the recent return of the Power Play multiplier might entice individuals to try their luck. The multiplier option is an additional $1, but instead of simply doubling one’s winnings, participants who use the multiplier have the chance to multiply their winnings as much as five times.

    The exceptions are of course anyone who wins the jackpot as well as anyone who wins the $1 million for matching five numbers but missing the Power Ball. The second largest prize can only be doubled to $2 million. With rule changes occurring all the time, eventually this may change as well.

    At the same time, it’s hard to imagine anyone so disappointed with losing out on the big prize that they would turn down hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not to mention a chance to pocket more than a million in cash. In the end, winning big is relative.

    The larger the jackpot becomes, and it is already just shy of $200 million, the more hype surrounds it and the more excited potential winners become. Expect the jackpot to balloon significantly as more and more people participate—That is if we have no winners in the coming weeks.

    Meanwhile the Mega Millions jackpot continues to climb. though it hasn’t reached the exciting nine figure stage yet. At present, it’s worth $84 million in annuity payments, with a cash option of $46 million.

    Image via ABC News Youtube

  • Mega Millions Jackpot Climbs to $344M

    With the rollover of the MEGA MILLIONS jackpot, Lottery Fever is in full swing.

    The Mega Millions jackpot on Friday went unclaimed, making the new jackpot a whopping $297 million for the annuity, $158 million for the cash. It’s the second largest jackpot in 2 years, just behind the big $656 million annuity of March 2012, the all-time U.S. record.

    Could the reason it jumped so high so quick have anything to do with the Powerball jackpot being lower, and more expensive? Powerball tickets cost $2.00 each and the payoff – only $100 million dollars.

    People want those big payouts, obviously. Or, maybe it is for other reasons – after all, Mega Millions’ October overhaul has increased the chances of jackpots rolling over, by worsening the odds to 1 in 259 million, up from 1 in 175 million. Better odds than Powerball has though, per dollar, those odds are 1 chance in 175 million per ticket.

    And, if you have numbers you normally play – Mega Millions added a bunch more options. The first five now go up to 75. The Mega Ball, on the other hand, now only goes up to 15.

    In March 2012, Mega Millions stood at $290 million. It then rolled over to $356 million, and when it rolled over again it sent sales skyrocketing, bringing the top prize to more than $300 million in just three days.

    The October overhauls include higher minimum jackpots, new minimum jackpots increased and higher secondary prizes, including a possible $5 million windfall.

    Mega Millions, the game that holds the record for the largest jackpot in North American history, began on August 31,1996 as the Big Game. The first drawing took place on September 6, 1996, with six states participating: Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia.

    Results of the 11 p.m. Mega Millions drawing can be seen on 6ABC at 11:25 p.m., or for those not local, at the Mega Millions website, or local news.