Powerball Jackpot Hits $250 Million Dollars

The Powerball jackpot has surged to $250 million dollars for the drawing in Wednesday. No one matched the drawing held this past Saturday when the jackpot was estimated at $185 million dollars. The winning numbers for Saturday’s drawing were 3, 15, 27, 58, and 59, and the Powerball number was 20.

The next drawing for the multi-state lottery will be held on Wednesday, November 21 at 9 pm EST.

While the jackpot went untouched, there were five big winners on Saturday night. One winner used the Power Play option to cash in on a $2 million dollar prize. The Power Play option allows a player to add $1 dollar to the ticket price of $2 dollars and then every prize that isn’t the jackpot doubles. There were four other winners of the million dollar prize. Winning tickets were sold in Florida, New York, Texas, and Illinois. If a player matches five numbers but not the powerball number, they win a prize of $1 million dollars.

According to Lottery Universe, the largest Powerball jackpot to date was $365 million, which was split between eight employees at a Nebraska meatpacking plant in 2006.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the lottery lately as stories of fraud outside the system has creeped in. Two brothers earned national headlines when they waited six years to turn in a $5 million lottery scratch-off card, but it turns out they had good reason to wait: They had allegedly stolen the winning ticket from a customer at their store. The brothers had told the ticket owner that he had won five thousand dollars when he had actually won $5 million dollar. They offered to buy the ticket from him for $4,000 and told him he woud not have to pay taxes. When they went to turn in the winning ticket five years later lottery officials became suspicious and broadcast their identity. The man who originally bought the ticket came forward, and the brothers were arrested.

Will you play the $250 million dollar Powerball jackpot game?