Did anyone win the Powerball $500 million jackpot on Wednesday night? If you are hoping to quit your job and enjoy life as a mega-millionaire, get ready to check your tickets to see if you have the winning numbers for the February 11 drawing.
The Powerball results are announced at approximately 11 p.m. ET. Anxious ticket holders can watch the drawing live on any of these local TV stations .
The winning numbers are: 11 – 13 – 25 – 39 – 54 and the Powerball is 19.
Update: Winning tickets were sold in North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas. The three winners will split what turned out to be a $564.1 million Powerball jackpot.
Grocery stores, liquor stores and convenience stores that sell Powerball tickets had lines out the door on Wednesday. When the Powerball jackpot gets this big, it takes time for lottery officials to determine exactly where winning tickets were sold, so it may be a few hours before the winning cities or towns are revealed.
How much will you get if you win tonight’s massive Powerball jackpot? If the jackpot stays at $500 million, the Indianapolis Star reports that a single ticket winner would have the option to take the full amount paid out over 29 years (30 payments) or a lump sum payment of approximately $337.8 million. Of course, Uncle Sam will take his cut before you get paid, but it’s likely you won’t be complaining about that — you will have a boatload of money leftover.
AZ Central reports that it’s been more than two months since someone has won Powerball’s top prize . While it’s nice to dream about what you would do with your new-found millions, consider this: the odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball are 1 in 175,223,510. Still, $2 isn’t much to pay for a dream.
Got my powerball tickets. Cannot wait to not win 500 million.
— Dan Bernardini (@Weatherman_Dan) February 11, 2015
If you beat the odds and you end up winning tonight, NBC suggests that you take steps to protect your new-found fortune so you can enjoy living like Donald Trump for the rest of your life.
“Many of the suddenly super-rich feel obligated to make that big purchase… instead of visiting that car dealer or travel agent, the first thing anyone lucky enough to win a lottery jackpot should do is to find a trusted, qualified financial planner.”
If no one wins the Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night, it will continue to inch closer to one billion dollars. Are you feeling lucky?
[Image: Getty Images/Scott Olson]