Powerball jackpot builds to $325 million for Saturday
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Powerball jackpot for Saturday's drawing stands at $325 million - the fourth-largest sum in the game's history.
The record-breaking jackpots aren't likely to stop anytime soon.
Since Powerball tickets doubled in price to $2 in January, the number of tickets sold has decreased, but the sales revenue has made up for it, increasing by about 35 percent, said Norm Lingle, chairman of the Powerball board of directors.
And as the price went up, so did the pots of cash that entice thousands across the country to play.
"Christmas is coming and $325 million would come in handy," said Tim Abel, 63, who was buying a Powerball ticket at New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal. The Broadway stagehand said he usually plays whenever the jackpot goes over $100 million.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said of the price increase: "... we believed the jackpots would grow fast and grow large because of the change in the game, and it does appear that it is working."
Recent Powerball jackpot winners include an Iowa couple that won a whopping $202 million on Sept. 26. A week later, a Delaware resident picked all six numbers for a $50 million payday.
A single winner on Saturday choosing a cash payout would get nearly $213 million before paying state and federal taxes.
Lottery officials say they're unsure what effect Thanksgiving and beginning of Christmas shopping season will have on Powerball sales. Often, lottery sales pick up considerably in the days before high-dollar drawings when jackpots get so high.
"I think this weekend will be very telling," said Lingle, who is also the executive director of the South Dakota Lottery. "To my knowledge we've never had a large jackpot run like this fall over a major holiday."
Roxie Breece, an assistant manager at a Cenex convenience store in Ogallala, Neb., thinks the long weekend will help. She said Friday that clerks have sold far more Powerball tickets than usual over the past week.
"Tomorrow's going to be a nightmare for us," she said. "With everybody out shopping and the drawing on Saturday, we'll be really busy."
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Associated Press writers Karen Matthews in New York, and Grant Schulte in Lincoln, Neb., contributed to this report.
The record-breaking jackpots aren't likely to stop anytime soon.
Since Powerball tickets doubled in price to $2 in January, the number of tickets sold has decreased, but the sales revenue has made up for it, increasing by about 35 percent, said Norm Lingle, chairman of the Powerball board of directors.
And as the price went up, so did the pots of cash that entice thousands across the country to play.
"Christmas is coming and $325 million would come in handy," said Tim Abel, 63, who was buying a Powerball ticket at New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal. The Broadway stagehand said he usually plays whenever the jackpot goes over $100 million.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said of the price increase: "... we believed the jackpots would grow fast and grow large because of the change in the game, and it does appear that it is working."
Recent Powerball jackpot winners include an Iowa couple that won a whopping $202 million on Sept. 26. A week later, a Delaware resident picked all six numbers for a $50 million payday.
A single winner on Saturday choosing a cash payout would get nearly $213 million before paying state and federal taxes.
Lottery officials say they're unsure what effect Thanksgiving and beginning of Christmas shopping season will have on Powerball sales. Often, lottery sales pick up considerably in the days before high-dollar drawings when jackpots get so high.
"I think this weekend will be very telling," said Lingle, who is also the executive director of the South Dakota Lottery. "To my knowledge we've never had a large jackpot run like this fall over a major holiday."
Roxie Breece, an assistant manager at a Cenex convenience store in Ogallala, Neb., thinks the long weekend will help. She said Friday that clerks have sold far more Powerball tickets than usual over the past week.
"Tomorrow's going to be a nightmare for us," she said. "With everybody out shopping and the drawing on Saturday, we'll be really busy."
___
Associated Press writers Karen Matthews in New York, and Grant Schulte in Lincoln, Neb., contributed to this report.
Just as many are foolish enough to believe Obama can keep this country from a recession, I'm foolish enough to buy a lottery ticket. I have a better chance of winning than Obama has of getting the unemployment rate down to 4+ % nationally.Â
And somebody in Podunk West Virginia will win.
Just like those who will be spendings lots of money they don't have on things they don't need this holiday season, so there will be those who spend their last few dollars on a wild dream that will almost certainly not pan out.  If ever there was something akin to a tax on the poor and foolish, this is it.
@OSUx2 ........nobody puts a gun to their head and makes them play. So, if its a "tax" as you suggest, it's an accepted and approved tax.
Didn't say it wasn't accepted & approved. Unbelievable how foolish some are.
It seems like someone from the east side of the US always wins.  Not gonna waste the $$ on a losing venture.
I've noticed that since they jacked the price up to $2/ticket fewer and fewer people are winning.
213 million cash payout before taxes which means  110,760,000  after taxes in Oregon, I wonder how much of that 48% that they take would go in the Oregon coffers and how much the feds get?
I made a promise that I would never buy another Powerball ticket no matter how high it got. I'm tired of making the mid-westerners rich. So up yours P-ball. (HAHA)
 @Bdou I'm making a promise that I will never buy another Powerball ticket after I win it tomorrow night.