Powerball Winners? None…Jackpot Grows To $450 Million As People Search To Play Powerball Online

As the current Powerball Jackpot climbs to the stratosphere, you just might be one of the half million people searching Google for Powerball information and Powerball winning numbers. Google Trends reported more than 500,000 searches related to “Powerball numbers” came into their search engine on February 7 alone, but you won’t see any of these would-be winning Powerball numbers— as reported by the Inquisitr — on your Powerball tickets. When Powerball lottery officials declared the winning numbers were 5, 10, 21, 34, 58 — and the red Powerball was 33 for the Saturday night February 7 drawing, the $380 million drawing would’ve been one of the largest lottery jackpots in history, if only there was a Powerball winner.

Alas, ABC News reports that lottery officials have declared no Powerball winner in that most recent $380 million Powerball drawing, so the Powerball now swells to an estimated $450 million — or much more, based on how many people decide to play the Powerball game offering such a large jackpot. The next Powerball drawing will take place on Wednesday, since not one Powerball player matched the winning numbers from Saturday’s big drawing.

The Official Powerball site lists all the 44 states where the Powerball can be played — along with Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — but doesn’t give a comprehensive way for folks to play the Powerball online. To play the Powerball online, people have to visit individual state lottery sites, like the Illinois Lottery website, which shows people pretty prominently how to play the Powerball online, but only if they are old enough and within Illinois state lines.

“The purchase of Illinois Lottery game tickets for Lotto, Mega Millions®, Powerball® and any other Illinois Lottery game tickets authorized by Illinois law to be sold over the internet (“Internet Tickets”) or subscription plans (“Lottery Subscriptions”) on these Websites is strictly limited to persons who are at least 18 years old and who are located within the geographical boundaries of the State of Illinois at the time of purchase of the Internet Tickets or the Lottery Subscriptions.”

Other state lottery sites, like the Ohio Lottery website, make it pretty clear that they don’t offer Powerball players the option to buy Powerball tickets online yet.

“LOTTERY TICKETS ARE SOLD AT OHIO LOTTERY RETAILERS AND CANNOT BE PURCHASED ONLINE.”

The Minnesota state lottery does allow people to buy their Powerball tickets online, but their FAQ page states folks must also be located inside state lines to play their Powerball online.

“I do not live in Minnesota, can I play? Yes, but you must be physically located in the State at the time you make a purchase.”

Therefore, those seeking to buy Powerball tickets online for the estimated Wednesday drawing of $450 million should visit their specific state’s lottery website to check for details. The last big jackpot for Powerball was one year ago, in February 2014, when it soared to $425 million.

[Image via Powerball]