No winner: Powerball jackpot rises to $800M
(NewsNation) — If you missed your chance to purchase a Powerball ticket for Wednesday night’s drawing, count yourself lucky.
Nobody won the grand prize of $700 million, the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot in history.
This means two things: There is a second chance to play and the jackpot has gone up. The next chance to play is Saturday. This time, the winnings are estimated to be at least $800 million. Players can purchase tickets for $2 each.
The winning numbers drawn on Wednesday were 19,36,37,46, 56 and 24.
Jackpot winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years. The Multi-State Lottery Association, the group that works with state lotteries, said securities are purchased to fund prize payouts.
The jackpot grows based on game sales and interest rates. But the odds of winning the big prize stays the same, which is about one in 292 million.
It will actually cost a player more if they win the Powerball and take the annual payments because the feds have raised interest rates to try to fight inflation, meaning that the interest rate will affect the annuity.