The Powerball jackpot has grown to a record $425 million, sending millions of Americans to supermarkets, shops, gas stations and other ticket outlets to buy lottery tickets before Wednesday’s drawing. None of the $2 tickets matched the winning numbers in a drawing of the multistate game Saturday night, when the jackpot was an estimated $325 million. The estimated $425 million up for grabs on Wednesday in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands could get bigger if sales boom before the drawing. Louisiana Lottery spokeswoman Kimberly Chopin says Powerball sales in the state on Saturday alone reached $2.1 million. The previous top Powerball windfall—claimed by eight employees of a Nebraska meatpacking plant—was $365 million in 2006. The biggest U.S. lottery payout was $656 million—shared by holders of three winning tickets in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland—in a March Mega Millions drawing. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot: 1 in 175 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Today’s poll question: Are you buying one or more tickets for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing?
