Still No Big Winner: Powerball To Jump To Estimated $550M
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the Wednesday night drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery and the estimated jackpot for Saturday's drawing is expected to grow to $550 million.
A ticket with five numbers in Wednesday's draw, but missing the Powerball number, was sold at a Ontario gasoline station and is worth $3,264,394.
Four other tickets with five numbers, but missing the Powerball number, were sold, one each in Florida, North Carolina, New York and Oregon. They are each worth $1 million, the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game, announced.
The jackpot jumps to an estimated $550 million for Saturday's drawing. That would make it the nation's 8th largest lottery prize ever. The $550 million prize refers to the annuity option, paid over 29 years. The cash prize would be almost $348 million.
Lottery players also can vie for another giant prize, as the Mega Millions game's grand prize will be $418 million in Friday's drawing.
The numbers drawn Wednesday were 2, 18, 37, 39, 42 and the Powerball number was 12. The estimated jackpot was $460 million. The drawing was the 20th since the last time a ticket with all six numbers was sold.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is 1 in about 293 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 24.87.
The Powerball game is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
California law requires major payoffs of lottery games to be paid on a pari-mutuel - or pool betting - basis.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)