Powerball jackpot hits $1.3 billion
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Ahiza Garcia and Jackie Wattles, CNN Newswire
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — $1.3 billion. That’s the new Powerball jackpot.
Another Powerball drawing failed to produce a winner on Saturday after reaching a staggering $900 million jackpot earlier in the day — by far the largest ever.
Now lottery officials estimate the jackpot is already at $1.3 billion ahead of the next drawing on Wednesday night.
The biggest winning jackpot was in 2012 with a MegaMillions game that was worth $656 million.
The current jackpot has been growing since November 7. It first broke into the top 10 largest jackpots ranking last weekend, when it hit $400 million. Since then ticket sales have only taken off.
It hit $700 million on Thursday after nobody won on Wednesday night — the 18th drawing without a winner.
The buying frenzy continued all day Saturday. A few hours before the drawing, the Texas Lottery reported that $5,838,152 in Powerball tickets were sold in a one-hour period.
The odds of winning are 1 in 292 million.
Powerball is sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.