Powerball jackpot hits $625 million, 4th-largest ever. What are the odds of winning?
Feeling lucky?
If so, you might want to buy a ticket for Saturday night’s Powerball drawing, which is up to $625 million.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the first Powerball jackpot winner of 2019 will be a Texan,” Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, said in a statement.
This jackpot began as a $40 million prize on Dec. 29, 2018.
Since then, as no one matched all the numbers through 24 drawings, it has grown to be the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot — and the seventh largest jackpot for any lottery game in the country.
It has a cash value of $380.6 million.
“Powerball sales have been strong during the last few days, which means more revenue for the state of Texas,” Grief said. “As great excitement builds for Saturday night’s drawing, we want to remind our players to play responsibly.
“It only takes one ticket to win.”
The odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million.
Those are long odds, but a couple of Texans have beaten them in past years.
Since Texas joined in the multi-state Powerball games in 2010, there have been two jackpot winners here, lottery officials say.
In May 2013, Paul McDowell from Bells won a jackpot prize worth $40 million. And in February 2015, TL Management Trust, Andrew Weber, trustee of Austin, claimed a portion of the $564.1 million jackpot prize. There also were two other out-of-state winners in that drawing, lottery officials noted.
Powerball games start at $40 million and the payout increases each drawing until someone wins the jackpot.
Players win by correctly matching five numbers from a field of 69 — as well as the Powerball number, which players choose from 26 numbers.
Players who match all the numbers except for the Powerball win $1 million, or $2 million if they purchase a $1 add on Power Play feature.
Drawings are broadcast in Texas on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:12 p.m.
