The Powerball Jackpot for the next draw has grown to a massive $317 million. This makes it one of the biggest jackpots in over 10 years.
Huge Powerball Jackpots are becoming more and more common since the lottery system was restructured last year. The changes mean that bigger and more frequent jackpots occur, with the price for a ticket having risen to $2.
Lottery spokeswoman, Mary Neubauer, spoke to the Associated Press about the new system: “It usually took a handful of months, if not several months, for a jackpot to reach this large amount. Now it’s achieving that within a handful of weeks. I think the redesign is achieving exactly what we had wanted it to achieve, which is the bigger, faster-growing jackpot.”
The new changes have seen four massive jackpots won this year alone. In May, the largest Powerball jackpot ever recorded was for a total prize money of a whopping $587.5 million.
This Saturday’s jackpot is for an estimated $317 million as no Powerball players hit all the winning numbers in Wednesday night’s draw. One winner did match five numbers in Pennsylvania, which gave him prize money of $2 million. This was due to the fact that he opted for the Power Play option, which doubled his winning from one to two million.
Five other lucky jackpot winners won a life-changing $1 million each. They were from Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and New York.
The drawings for Powerball take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at exactly 10:59 pm, Eastern Time. The results of the lottery are published within minutes and can be checked at www.usamega.com .
So, if you are feeling lucky and have some magical winning numbers in mind, it’s time to go buy a ticket for a chance of winning the $317 million jackpot.