Powerball jackpot up to $1.5 billion

Published: Updated:
MGN

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – It’s already the world’s biggest lottery jackpot, and now it’s even bigger.

Lottery officials say the pot for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing is now at $1.5 billion. And if ticket sales continue to outpace expectations, it could grow even more.

The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are one in 292.2 million.

The $1.5 billion prize would be paid in annual payments over 29 years. Or the winner could opt for a lump-sum payment of $930 million.

The Florida Lottery is warning Powerball players about an online scam.

The Lottery sent out a news release Tuesday saying a website calling itself USA POWERBALL Syndicate is offering shares of tickets that are purchased as a group with the winnings paid out equally for every share.

The Lottery said Powerball tickets can only be purchased at authorized retailers and not by phone, Internet or mail.

At the RaceTrac gas station on MLK near I-75, manager Erika Wallace says sales have been very strong the past few days, and they did about $25,000-$30,000 in lottery sales just last week.

The Florida Lottery also says since this jackpot started rolling over, its collected $70 million for Florida education.

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