BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Another Powerball drawing ended with no winner Saturday night, sending the jackpot soaring to an estimated $900 million.
No ticket for Saturday's drawing matched the winning combination: white balls 2, 9, 43, 55, 57 and red Powerball 18. The jackpot was estimated at $875 million.
Ticket buyers for Monday’s drawing have a chance at either $900 million paid out in yearly increments or a $465.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.
The top prize is the third biggest Powerball jackpot and the seventh largest in U.S. lottery history, Powerball said in a statement early Sunday.
While there was no jackpot winner, Powerball said three tickets that matched all five white balls Saturday are eligible to claim $1 million prizes, including two in Texas and one in Colorado.
The jackpot will keep growing until someone wins.
The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes that draw more players. The largest Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion in November.
The last time someone won the Powerball jackpot was April 19 for a top prize of nearly $253 million. Since then, no one has won the grand prize in the past 37 consecutive drawings.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The Mega Millions top prize has grown again to an estimated $640 million after there was no winner of the lottery’s latest giant jackpot.
The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 10, 24, 48, 51, 66 and gold Mega Ball 15.
The estimated $640 million jackpot in the next drawing would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Tuesday night’s drawing is an estimated $328 million.
The jackpot is the seventh largest in the game’s history, Mega Millions said in a statement.
Four tickets matched all five white balls to garner the second prize level in the drawing. A ticket sold in South Carolina included an optional multiplier making it worth $2 million. Two tickets in California and one in North Carolina also were second-tier winners, Mega Millions said.
Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continue to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grows.
The last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was April 18.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.