CHICAGO (CBS)– With no one matching all the numbers picked in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing, the grand prize for the multi-state lottery game is now the highest in the game’s history, at an estimated $425 million.
The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot was on Oct. 3, when a player in Delaware won $50 million, according to the Illinois Lottery.
Saturday night’s grand prize of $325 million was the fourth-highest in the game’s history. The winning numbers were: 22 – 32 – 37 – 44 and 50, and the Power Ball number was 34.
The closest anyone in Illinois came to collecting the jackpot Saturday night were the five players who matched four of five numbers and the Power Ball, according to the Illinois Lottery. Those five players will each receive $10,000.
Before this jackpot, the biggest grand prize ever in the history of the Powerball game was $365 million, won in 2006 by eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant.
And while it may be fun to dream about what you’d do with $425 million — or more if ticket sales drive the jackpot even higher — if you match every number picked this Wednesday in the next Powerball drawing, the odds really aren’t in your favor. The odds of winning that jackpot are 1 in 175 million, according to the Illinois Lottery.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
