Powerball Jackpot Hits $150 Million

The winner of Saturday’s Powerball jackpot will walk away with close to $150 million.

Well, that is if there is a winner.

The Powerball jackpot hasn’t been won since February 6 when a single player from Virginia won $217 million.

The jackpot has rolled over eight times since the February win. The jackpot rolled over again on Wednesday night when no one successfully matched all six Powerball numbers. The numbers were: 6, 10, 23, 41 and 45. The Power Ball was 1.

No one claimed the Powerball Jackpot on Wednesday night but there were a few $1 million tickets sold. At least seven winning tickets (all five numbers except the Powerball) were sold in Illinois, Arizona, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. There was also a Match 5 winner with the multiplier in North Carolina. That winning ticket is worth about $2 million.

Lottery officials said that if someone does win the $150 million lottery this weekend they will walk away with about $95.2 million in cash.

The Powerball has seen some big jackpots recently. The lottery raised ticket prices to $2 last year which means that jackpots are growing bigger faster.

Andi Brancato from the Michigan State Lottery told MLive: “Before everyone thinks we’re ripping them off, (players) are getting a huge exchange for this.”

And Brancato was right. There were some huge jackpots in 2012, including the largest in Powerball history. In March of last year, three people split a $640 million jackpot. Last year also saw a $587.5 million jackpot and two more above $300 million.

Do you play the lottery? Are you going to play this weekend?