Powerball Hits $900 Million, Giving Buyers 900 Million Reasons To Buy A Powerball Ticket

The Powerball estimated jackpot has hit $900 million. That’s according to headlines like “Powerball Rises to $900 Million,” as reported by ABC News?, which lets consumers know that the Powerball has swelled to an estimated $900 million, hours before the winning Powerball numbers are drawn in a secret and very highly-secured location in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday evening. When the January 9 Powerball drawing occurs, one wonders if the $900 million will have turned into an estimated $1 billion Powerball total, even if the Powerball signs can only accommodate totals at $999 million and below, since Powerball didn’t plan to have a billion-dollar lottery on their hands.

With the Powerball at $900 million, Powerball players are wondering if they can play the Powerball online, or buy Powerball tickets with credit and debit cards, as reported by the Inquisitr.

RT createdrumbeats Powerball Could Hit $1 Billion: Check Most-Popular Powerball Winning Numbers And Most-Common Po… https://t.co/5LXOfUkFv1

— John Harris (@winthenextlotto) January 8, 2016

The official Powerball website hasn’t been updated to reflect the $900 million estimated Powerball drawing as of this writing, but expect Powerball to update their site soon as webmasters change that $800 million Powerball lottery booty to the $900 million being bandied about. Articles proclaiming how much sales have grown via Powerball tickets as the Powerball jackpot reaches $900 million, as reported by USA TODAY?, have sent folks into a buying frenzy to get their Powerball tickets in their pockets, or their Bibles or their lucky spots, prior to the Powerball deadline.

The fact that the Powerball lottery has risen to $900 million on Saturday, hours ahead of the drawing, has caused $900 million to surge on Twitter. The social media platform reports that the search term $900 million is one of their top trending items, and has garnered 22,700 tweets as of this writing. Some of those tweets show folks asking where to buy Powerball tickets online, so they can still participate in the $900 million fun, even if they hail from Canada. Joshua Wafler-Thomas tweeted such a question.

“Are there any other places to buy legitimate #Powerball tickets online? http://thelotter.com is no longer accepting Canadian players.”

As written by Robbie @ScumbagLilTymeR on Twitter, “good” websites to purchase Powerball tickets online are down.

“All the good site to buy online Powerball tickets are down RIP the dream of trolling America.”

Powerball fever is at such a high pace that at least one retailer reported running out of the paper that the Powerball tickets are printed upon. Therefore, while the Powerball forms can be seen, sitting at the ready at Pine Liquors in Fort Washington, Maryland, in the above photo, here’s hoping that many retailers are able to keep up with the Powerball demands now that the estimated jackpot is $900 million.

The above photo was taken on Friday, January 8, prior to Saturday’s announcements that the Powerball had swelled to $900 million. Now that the sales of Powerball tickets have doubled based on prior records, there’s a high chance that at least one person will take home the $900 million jackpot — or lower cash payout, whatever that total ended up being. As of this writing, the $900 million Powerball comes with an estimated cash value of $558 million.

Of course, off the top of that $900 million, taxes will be subtracted, both federal and state taxes.

The Powerball jackpot has now reached a staggering $900 million https://t.co/Rl5eUpvk4s pic.twitter.com/xbvX0uWoqH

— CNN (@CNN) January 9, 2016

If there isn’t a winner, the Powerball could swell to record numbers, well past $900 million. According to ABC News, the Powerball could grow from $900 million to $1.3 billion for the next Powerball drawing after Saturday’s drawing. That next Powerball drawing is Wednesday, January 13.

“Tonight’s jackpot cash value is $558 million, lottery officials said. The winning numbers will be announced at 10:59 p.m. ET.

“If there are no jackpot winners tonight, the jackpot will rise to $1.3 billion for Wednesday’s drawing, officials said.”

The Powerball $900 million jackpot is related to the fact that Powerball has become harder to win, with the official Powerball site telling consumers the number of Powerball ball changes makes for more overall winners.

[Photo by AP Photo/Alex Brandon]