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Powerball (game)

Powerball jackpot soars to $403 million

Sheldon S. Shafer
The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
In this Jan. 13, 2016, file photo, a store clerk removes a Powerball quick pick lottery ticket in Oakland. The Powerball drawing for Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, soared to $403 million after no one matched all six numbers for the drawing Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017.

LOUISVILLE — The jackpot for the next Powerball drawing rose to an estimated $403 million after no one matched all six numbers Saturday, officials of the multistate game reported Monday.

The one-time cash option for Wednesday's drawing was estimated at $243.9 million. Powerball is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The jackpot could rise as the drawing date gets closer.

No one matched the six numbers drawn Saturday night — 3, 7, 9, 31, 33, and the Powerball, 20. The jackpot for Saturday's game was $349 million.

► Related:20 Tenn. co-workers to split $420M Powerball jackpot

The pending jackpot is one of the largest prizes ever offered for the game, and has reached a level where many occasional players start buying tickets, lottery officials say. Looking at data from the Multi-State Lottery Association — an affiliation of the lotteries that sell Powerball and MegaMillions tickets — Wednesday's jackpot at $403.3 million would be the 10th largest Powerball drawing.

However, the upcoming jackpot pales in comparison with the record nearly $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot that was shared by three ticket holders in January 2016.

In November, 20 co-workers in Tennessee split the $420 million prize. The co-workers at a Portland, Tenn., company entered an office pool and won the Nov. 26 drawing.

Powerball tickets cost $2 each. The odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 24.9, but the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.

Players choose the first five numbers from a set of 69 white balls and the Powerball from a pool of 26 red balls.

► Related:$420M Powerball ticket sold in small Tenn. city

Powerball jackpots start at $40 million. The game's second prize for matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball is $1 million. There were five $1 million prizes — in Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas — from Saturday's drawing. The game also offers a "power play" option that can mean larger payoffs for some lower-tier winnings.

The twice-weekly Powerball drawings are at 11 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday and Saturday.

Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, The Tennessean; The Associated Press. Follow Sheldon S. Shafer on Twitter: @sheldonshafer

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