By SCOTT McFETRIDGE (Associated Press)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Perplexed that it appears nobody can win the big $1.5 billion Powerball prize?
An enormous cause is that individuals aren’t shopping for as many tickets for every drawing as they did 5 or 6 years in the past.
When fewer folks purchase tickets, a smaller proportion of the hundreds of thousands of attainable quantity combos are lined and the chance of a winner drops. The subsequent drawing will probably be held Saturday evening.
Of course, many individuals nonetheless are taking part in Powerball and Mega Millions, the opposite lottery recreation provided in many of the nation. It’s ticket gross sales from these Powerball gamers that fund the prizes and enabled the jackpot to soar by $300 million after there wasn’t a giant winner Wednesday evening.
In the final drawing for a $1.2 billion jackpot, 46.6% of the 292.2 million attainable quantity combos have been lined. That was up from the 36.3% of all attainable quantity combos that have been picked for Monday evening’s drawing, reflecting that ticket gross sales rise as jackpots climb larger.
But the proportion stays far lower than when a report $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot was on the road on Jan. 13, 2016. Back then, ticket gross sales have been so sturdy that 88.6% of the attainable combos have been lined, in keeping with the Urbandale, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association. Just a few days earlier than that report 2016 drawing, there was a protection of 77.8% for a $900 million Powerball prize.
The affiliation notes, nonetheless, that Powerball drawings now are held thrice per week, so even when tickets bought for particular person drawings are much less, general gross sales could be roughly comparable due to the additional recreation every week.
“It’s very difficult to make a comparison between now and five years ago because this is not really an apples-to-apples comparison,” mentioned Drew Svitko, the Pennsylvania Lottery’s government director and chairman of the Powerball Product Group.
Even as nobody hit the jackpot by matching all 5 white numbers and the crimson Powerball, fairly just a few got here achingly shut.
Powerball officers observe that 19 tickets matched the 5 white balls and missed the Powerball — incomes the gamers $1 million, or $2 million in the event that they paid further for a “prize multiplier.” And 238 tickets matched 4 white balls in addition to the Powerball.
There have been 39 consecutive drawings with no Powerball winner, relationship again to Aug. 6, and if that winless streak hits 40 drawings after Saturday evening, the jackpot will definitely develop to be the most important ever within the U.S. and globally.
The report variety of consecutive Powerball drawings with no winner is 41, which ended on Oct. 4, 2021, with a $699.8 million winner in California.
Until somebody wins this time, the most important prize stays a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot gained in 2016 by three ticketholders in California, Florida and Tennessee. That stands simply forward of a $1.537 billion Mega Millions prize gained in 2018 by a ticketholder in South Carolina.
The $1.5 billion prize on Saturday evening is for winners who take an annuity, paid yearly over 29 years. Most winner select money, and for the following drawing that might be $745.9 million.
Powerball is performed in 45 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”