Powerball Jackpot Climbs To $320 Million
The Powerball jackpot sits at $320 million as of Saturday night.
Millions of people are expected to buy lottery tickets in an effort to win the sixth highest jackpot in Powerball history. The jackpot has continued to swell since February. Since nobody has purchased a winning ticket since last month, that number has slowly climbed over the past month.
Although everyone who buys a Powerball ticket is itching to win the jackpot, the odds aren’t exactly in their favor. Players only have a one in 175 million chance of collecting the entire $320 million jackpot. However, the odds of winning a smaller prize is one in 38.
Lottery officials said they expect the $320 million Powerball jackpot to soar even higher after tonight’s drawing. Multi-State Lottery Association executive director Chuck Strutt said that 60 percent of lottery ticket sales occur on the last day.
No winning numbers were drawn on Wednesday evening. However, players in Kentucky, Florida, and Hawaii each one $1 million after watching five of the numbers. If a winner doesn’t emerge after tonight’s drawing, then the jackpot could swell to upwards of $500 million.
Although $320 million is a lot of money, this isn’t the largest Powerball jackpot on record. Two people purchased winning tickets for the record-breaking $587.5 million jackpot last November. One person in Arizona and another in Missouri reportedly split the cash after purchasing winning tickets.
Although the $320 million is tempting, the winner can choose to collect a lump sum payment of $198.3 million. Should the winner want the entire jackpot, the money will dispersed in 30 payments over 29 years.
Forbes recently calculated how much money players would have to fork over to the government if they win the Powerball jackpot. Although the amount varies by state, players can expect to pay millions more in taxes than they would have in 2012. Of course, there are certainly worse problems to have.
Are you excited about the $320 million Powerball jackpot? Are you planning to buy a lottery ticket in an attempt to win it all?
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