Lottery News and Stories
Mega Millions rises again, Powerball gets sweetened
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 posted 10:50 AM EDT
Get ready for takeoff.
Both major multistate lotteries are over $200 million, because no one won last night in Mega Millions.
The bigger the prizes, the more people play - and the faster the jackpots grow.
Tonight's top Powerball prize was hiked to $250 million - increased by $5 million just since Sunday - because of surging
sales among its 30 states, including Pennsylvania and Delaware.
If it rolls over again tonight, Powerball might hit $300 million tomorrow - for only the third time ever.
Friday's Mega Millions annuity jackpot will be worth $207 million, because no ticket had all of these numbers: 4, 5, 26,
37 and 56, with a Mega Ball of 25.
Two New Jersey tickets won $250,000 for having the first five numbers. So did another dozen tickets, including three in California,
two each in Virginia and Illinois, and one apiece in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York and Texas.
The Powerball jackpot is the biggest since March of last year, when eight West Virginia tax office workers hit a jackpot
worth $276 million in yearly installments. They opted for the $139 million cash.
A $314 million jackpot was snagged in August 2007 by an Ohio dad and his two children.
The biggest Powerball prize was $365 million, won by eight coworkers at a Nebraska food processing plant in February 2007.
That's the biggest windfall ever for a single ticket.
The jackpot record, though, is the $390 million that Mega Millions reached on March 6, 2007. A Cape May County couple split
the loot with a Georgia man.
The following August, Mega Millions reached $330 million, and another Cape May County couple won, taking part in a four-way
split.
No matter how big the jackpot gets, the odds of winning remain very small - 1 chance in 176 million for Mega Millions, 1
in 195 million for Powerball.
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