Powerball Jackpot Hits $360 Million At Mind-Boggling Speed, Grows $140 Million In A Week

The Powerball Jackpot has swollen again for the Wednesday drawing tonight,= for a bloated pot of $360 million that is just $5 million shy of the second-largest jackpot ever. Wowsers.

It was only last week that I reported that the Powerball Jackpot had reached $220 million. That’s a humongous, mouth-watering jump of $140 million in just one week.

So it could be an exciting game tonight. If it hits, it will be the third largest payout in Powerball history.

And, if it doesn’t hit, the jackpot could soon be well on its way to growing to match the size of the largest-ever win, a cool $580 million prize split by two players in November.

That’s life-changing money even after taxes. As NBC noted at the time, at the height of the November frenzy, Powerball tickets were being sold at a rate of as much as 130,000 a minute throughout the nation.

Since the beginning of the year, $200 million jackpots have been hitting at a record-setting pace. That’s because the price of the ticket doubled from $1 to $2, allowing Powerball officials to grow a much larger pot.

And, the larger the pot grows, the more people want to buy in to chase the larger pot. And the pot grows even larger. That’s why some people are saying that if the Powerball doesn’t hit tonight, we could soon see a jackpot in excess of $600 million. Can a billion dollar jackpot be far behind?

Want to increase your odds? Well, guess what. I do too. As a former professional gambler for a blackjack team, I always like to look around for an edge.

Alas, I have bad news. I haven’t been able to identify any good way to increase your chances — probably why I’m writing this article instead of out strategically purchasing tickets.

In an honest lottery, there’s nothing you can do to increase your odds. You’ve got to get lucky.

Good luck tonight to all players trying for today’s Powerball Jackpot.

[stacks of jackpot money photo by puchan via Shutterstock]