If you’re feeling like the stock market is just a gamble these days, then why not pony up a few bucks for a Powerball lottery ticket? The Powerball jackpot hit $310 million as of Wednesday night.
That’s for the Powerball annuity, mind you. If you want the cash payout you’ll be stuck with “only” $193.4 million for a winning Powerball lottery ticket.
New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and Nebraska all sold tickets that came close to winning on Wednesday, paying out $1 million for matching many — but not all — of the numbers. But those payments haven’t bled down the massive jackpot. It is Powerball’s fifth biggest ever, and the 12th biggest for any U.S. lottery.
What’s more, if the jackpot rolls over after Saturday’s drawing, those remaining records could be busted.
Powerball has gone up $110 million in just one week, fueled in part by the doubling of the cost of a Powerball ticket to $2 on Jan. 15.
Powerball’s jackpot has been aided by the fact that rival big-time lottery Mega Millions has been relatively small-time lately due to a winning streak. It went up to “just” $41 million in annual payments, or $30 million cash, when no one claimed the prize on Tuesday.
The record for any U.S. annuity jackpot was $390 million, set in March 2007 by Mega Millions. A Cape May County, N.J., couple and a Georgia trucker split the cash: $233.1 million.
The $2 price hike apparently was the right move. The jackpot has soared, the buzz for Powerball is huge and you can bet that folks are more than willing to shell out an extra buck for long-shot odds at a $310 million payday.
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