Sept. 26 (UPI) — The Powerball lottery jackpot crept closer to $1 billion on Tuesday after no one matched all the numbers in Monday night’s drawing.
The new jackpot now stands at an estimated $835 million, ranking as Powerball’s fourth-largest jackpot ever and the second-largest this year next to the $1.08 billion jackpot won by a California ticket in July. The updated jackpot has a cash value of $390.4 million.
Lottery players failed to connect on five white balls — 10,12, 22, 36, 50 and red Powerball 4. Four tickets came close with three players in Florida and one in Oregon matching all five white balls but not the Powerball. Each of those tickets won $1 million, according to Powerball.
Lottery winners have the option of taking a lump sum payment or the annuity option with 30 annual payments, increasing 5% each year.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold.
America’s other lottery game, Mega Millions, will hold its drawing on Tuesday with a $230 million, with cash value of $107.8 million.
That game has already produced two billion-dollar winners so far this year. On Aug. 8, a player in Florida won $1.602 billion and a ticket purchased in Maine won a $1.34 billion prize.
