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A
winning ticket could bring the holder an estimated $700 million
windfall, a prize topped only by a January 2016 $1.56 billion
Powerball jackpot, the world's largest lottery reward ever.
This past weekend, there were no winning tickets for a prize
that was then $535 million, even though 113.6 million Powerball
chances were sold.
Anna Domoto, spokeswoman for the Multi-State Lottery
Association, said that even more tickets are expected to be sold
in the four-day period leading up to Wednesday night's drawing.
The drawing is set for 10:59 p.m. ET (0259 GMT Thursday) in
Tallahassee, Florida, when five of 69 white balls and one of 26
red balls - the Powerball - will be randomly selected to form
the six numbers a single ticket must have to take the jackpot.
The estimated jackpot is $700 million only if the winner agrees
to get 30 payments over 29 years. If a one-time payout is
chosen, the jackpot is an estimated $443.4 million.
The odds of a ticket having all six winning numbers do not
change no matter how big the jackpot is. They are 292.2
million-to-1, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Powerball tickets are sold in 44 U.S. states, and Washington,
D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
No one has won the Powerball's top prize in the twice-a-week
drawings since June 10, when a California man won a jackpot
valued at $447.8 million.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing
by Shri Navaratnam)
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