The Powerball jackpot has jumped up to $310 million. It is the fifth highest jackpot in Powerball history and the first time that the pot has grown larger than $300 million since February 11th, 2011.
There was no Powerball winner last night and no match 5 winners with the Power Play. There were five match five winners (from Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Nebraska) who each won $1 million each.
Saturday’s drawing for the $310 million jackpot will be worth $193.4 million if the winner chooses the cash option.
NJ.com reports that the current jackpot is the largest since 2007 when an Ohio man claimed $314.7 million. The last time someone won the Powerball was in December when a Pennsylvania couple took home a $128.8 million jackpot.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever won, according to Fox 19, was $365 million. The enormous prize was won by a group of meat packing plant workers in Nebraska back in 2006.
Powerball tickets recently doubled in price to $2. According to Arch Gleason, Kentucky Lottery’s President and CEO, this means that jackpots will get bigger faster and will be guaranteed $1 million for match five winners. Gleason said:
“Players have told us time and time again that they love playing for these big jackpots. We needed to make changes to the game as sales had declined and we hadn’t seen a solid jackpot run like this for awhile. By increasing the game’s price to $2, we made changes that provided better winning odds, a guaranteed $1 million cash second prize, and we hoped jackpots would grow faster. I believe this recent run has proven our point.”
Do you play the Powerball? Will you try to win the $310 million jackpot?
