Sets record for largest Powerball cash value
By Todd Northrop
As a result of brisker than expected ticket sales, lottery officials announced today that the Powerball jackpot has been raised from $305 million to $320 million for Wednesday's drawing.
The jackpot increase immediately launched Wednesday's drawing to #11 on the United States all-time biggest jackpots list. It will be the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot ever. The largest Powerball jackpot ever recorded was $365 million won six years ago.
Even bigger news is the jackpot's cash value — at $213.3 million, it will be the largest ever up for grabs in Powerball history.
With the new Powerball enhancements implemented in mid-January, the game has been redesigned to generate bigger jackpots and more millionaires.
The Powerball jackpot has been growing since Jun. 27 and has rolled 14 times.
The $320 million jackpot estimate could easily be greater than that by the time the drawing takes place Wednesday night, Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto said, as jackpot hopefuls hit the ticket machines in the hours leading up to the drawing.
"We sell the most tickets the night of the drawing," Ms. Otto said. "It'll be interesting to see if the country's excitement meter has gotten reset after that $600 million jackpot."
In early April, a world record Mega Millions $656 million jackpot captured the imagination of lottery players around the country, as wishful gamblers tried their luck at a slice of the largest jackpot in world history.
If there is no Grand Prize winner Wednesday night, the estimate for next Saturday's Powerball drawing (Aug. 18, 2012) will be greater than $400,000,000 — the largest Powerball jackpot ever.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play, or $3 per play with the optional Power Play option.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.
Saturday's Powerball winning number results will be published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the 10:59 pm (Eastern Time) drawing takes place.
$320 million sounds good to me....
Oh man, ya'll gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here! - DMX
$320M is outrageous! My stomach is churning and my loins are burning with excitement!
Yep, that kind of rich!
Yes powerball is coming home to Mcminnville, Oregon were it belongs.-weshar75
I just bought my second ticket. Yeehaw!
I already have my tickets. 500 lines worth, purchased yesterday. Not going to buy anymore for this drawing even though I'm tempted to. If it rolls again Wednesday night, I'm going to have to open the wallet again to play for what will be the largest powerball prize ever.
If it rolls, I predict a $500,000,000 jackpot
Wonder if this guy is playing for Wednesday's jackpot?
Hint: He won the Powerball back in 2002 for $315 million, then lost it all.
The good ol Midwest.. southern Indiana!!! although I wouldn't mind sharing with Oregon if the numbers rolled... Heck.. even 1000 would be winning the lottery for me right now.. timing couldn't b any better :)
That's just mean! LOL
$320 million....this is the kind of jackpot people were hoping for when Powerball bumped the price of tickets to $2 each. The first few months when the jackpot would get up to around $70 million and then get reset seem to be long forgotten right now.
I can't see how anybody can throw that much money away in such a short period of time.. INSANE.. however he may play $2 to try lose it again!! ;-)
Hmmmm....wonder if hearse is from VA.
Of course you are forgiven! Thanks for reminding us of what we could become if not careful with such a windfall. Bless his heart....everytime the jackpot reaches that level the news reporters remind us of him....the perfect example of everything that can and will go wrong with bad judgement and a lot of money.
This house is on the market for $20M in Atlanta. Do people really live like this?
Sure, why not?
Oh now that's cute!!
I have a new poll question that I put up in the Jackpot games. I hope Powerball jackpot continues to roll. What do you think about my comment?
If it rolls, it will be well over $400 million. Good poll, I voted yesterday.
awwwwwwwwwwww so cute.
I saw a very nice house in Jupiter, FL for 800K that sits on nearly 2.5 acres and has no HOA. That's more than enough for me....
Spending 20 million on a house is silly. For half that I could have a house, build a garage and have all the classic cars and select new cars I want and STILL be able to live off the interest for the rest of my life....
Mansions like this one don't do anything for me.I'll just remodel my two bedroom bungalo and build another two bedroom house in a warm state for wintertime living.
Yeah, I'm the same way... not impressed one bit about mega mansions. No one needs that much space and no matter what an interior designer says, they seem to be cold and impersonal
Did he actually lose all the money?.... or just lose his life with the overdose death of his granddaughter and general disintegration of his family?
I recall him wishing he never won, but didn't recall him actually losing all the money.
I'll just make do with my old rat hole. Just give me a bigger piece of cheese. That's all I can ask for.
From all news accounts he was flat broke by 2007. In addition he still has multiple lawsuits pending against him for deals that went sour.
If he was any broker, his cardboard box home would be repossessed.
small places 4 small minds
I do believe that Pennsylvania is due for this big jackpot !
Ka-ching $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$159,975,000 wire transfer for one lucky winner in Pennsylvania!
OK, not a regular PB player but,
I bought 1 w/ the PP.
And small budgets.
I am wondering how you are going to check all of those tickets? Are you going to check them by hand or are you going to be taking them someplace and using one of those ticket readers?
Good Luck!
lesson# 1.....tell nobody you hit a jackpot
lesson# 2.....find a GOOD lawyer that you can TRUST
lesson# 3.....Find a way to remain anonymous for states that want to see the person that won
lesson# 4 .....Go back to lesson #1
lesson# 5....enjoy the good life
# 6 Share some of your wealth anonymously (set up a charitable foundation).
Can you imagine winning $320 Millions on wednesday?
For a lot less than $20m, you can have multiple mcmansions with wall to wall luxury. I'd have one home base, one on the beach, one on the lake, one in the mountains, and possibly one on large acreage. I'd probably rent a villa on the beach somewhere in the Caribean for a few weeks a year, too. I can do all that for less than $20m.
Home...
at the beach...
and at the lake
All fully equipped with everything to need to monitor your investments and manage your charity.
I could do that. Easily.
I guess my room will be in the west tower when i visit..................lmao
Opps ...sorry ...I missed that one..
would you really? why would you need or want to take care of all that, or worry about someone else taking care of it. never mind the property taxes you would have to pay. you would get bored within weeks and your head would be spinning. i suppose you want about 7-8 vechicles and 2-3 boats and probably a private plane. no one needs or wants that much money.
Who are YOU to say who needs or wants any amount of money? And who says I have to explain myself to you? Are you the wealth police? What are you doing on a lottery website?
Why don't you go back to squatting in the park, spray painting foul words on other people's properties, crapping on police cars, shooting drugs into your system, and raping your female fellow squatters.
Wow. What a ..... grrr
I don't have a need for 7-8 vehicles or any boats, but a Gulf-Stream G650 corporate jet for just $58 million, would fill the bill for me.
This would save me from long waits in terminals, and being frisked down every time I wanted to jet set to a new destination.
Of course I'd like to fly it myself as well, why let some other pilots have all the fun?
That's funny, because just five months ago, when Powerball was getting won repeatedly at $70 million and Mega Millions set a record, everyone was putting Powerball down like crazy. However, now that Powerball is in rare jackpot territory and Mega Millions keeps getting won before getting to $100 million, everyone's jeering at Mega Millions, saying it rolls too slow.
What comes around goes around.
Where is it written in the Constitution people should only have what they need? Do you really need a computer and an internet connection? People lived for thousands of years without computers or the internet. If you believe people should only have what they need, then you should throw your computer in the trash and cancel your internet connection since you don't really need them.
Please don't tell us what we need or want ......................
it is surely none of your business!
Wealthy people employ so many people building, transporting and maintaining all of those things that "they don't need"
yeah, lottery players can be a fickle bunch. It's not what you've done in the past, it's about what you've done lately.
You're on the money,
there is an important phrase in the constitution( E pluribus unim)
"the pursuit of happiness"
no one can define another's happiness.
Nice, show me a pic. of your weekend car.
think positive - I will win it all
Will the bubble burst? Only time will tell.
Real estate, yes, theres a reason they use the word "real"
not sure how many I would want,
my wife wants an RV when I stop working.
But I prefer to just rent 1 when we are going to use it.
Don't need it as a driveway decoration nor do i need the maint.
same w/the private jet, would just buy the membership card.
but the real estate, own it, after all thats what the mega-rich do.
Hmm, you do realize it is more prudent to buy the 25, 000 mile flight card with Marquis Jets, which is a division of NetJets? You can request a G650 through Marquis and pay the fractional price to do so, which might be anywhere from $550, 000 to 750, 000 per 25, 000 miles flown. Marquis Jets has the finest pilots who get more training than FAA pilots are required to have. And they keep the maintenance up on the planes as well as take care of all fuel, hanger, and landing costs. It is a smarter move than paying $58 million for a jet, which becomes a depreciable asset. Besides, the fuel costs and other related fees would make it a bad investment for someone with only $125 million in the bank. G650 is a "corporate" jet for a reason.
The other thing you could choose to do is hire the concierge service, Quintessentially and let them take care of all your flight needs. They could arrange a private plan for you to travel off to any place in the world you desire. Not saying, just saying.
Yea, like that also, just use when you need/want
nothing to worry about.
Thats how I going do the RV thing when I retire.
No driveway decorations.
Yea, the most negative poster here, but don't take my word for it,
just look at his previous post's
but don't reply,
misery loves company,
Bring it on sadboy (one that got beat up in the school yard everyday)
but I won't reply, cause I don't talk to sociopaths.
I would like to fly in a leer jet before I take the big dirt nap and ride in either a cadillac or mercedes suv that I bought. That would be so awesome. A dream come true for me. Good luck on wednesday!-weshar75
Pia, I like all your houses and anything else you want to buy, beautiful lady!
I want to travel the world for some time, visit as many places as possible. Pick the one that I liked the most and settle down there, with simple house and maybe couple more toys. Put aside several mils and the rest put in a special trust.
The education that I've gotten is not as great as I want to have and I had to work hard through my college years, so I'm thinking to set the trust that will sponsor only education and medical expenses of all my following generations. It would be interesting to know for long would it last.
Yup, fully aware of all those "fractional ownership" programs, which have been around in many forms for quite some time now.
Your key word was "prudent", which is something I choose not to be, if a $320+ million dollar lottery windfall should come my way.
Sure there are thousands of ways to become more "practical", "frugal", "efficient", "thrifty", etc. But to my way of thinking, I'm throwing all that
spendthrift gobbily goop and cautionary stuff to the wind, and out the window!!!
A once in a lifetime opportunity such as this, means the freedom to do things however you please. Oh I'm sure the likes of Ralph Nader, and
countless other consumer advocates would be shrieking in disapproval of such outlandish expenditures!
And that's just fine. In fact that would
make me so very happy.
The bottom line is I'm going to do things on my own terms, in my own fashion, to stimulate this economy and get my
moneys worth out of the $2 investment, which I spent from my own hard earned money. I do have several worthy causes that are near and dear
to me that would be a high priority, as well as my own immediate family of course.
I do appreciate your financial advice to help me save money. But you see I'm out to spend this money, enjoy every moment of it, and if my timing is
really good, I'll be flat broke right about the time I go to meet that spirit in the sky.
If mcginnin56 wins, i'm sure he'll invite you to the mile high club.
Hell with the Gulf-Stream, I'll invite you to the 100 mile high club!
what will you drive sun - tue?
.......miles away from dreamland definitly a mulsanne and an island......ha ha GOOD LUCK EVERYONE KEEP DREAMING
"why let some other pilots have all the fun?"
You could ask Thurman Munson about that.
Oh, wait. You can't.
time for a nc win and im here in oxford nc waiting for wed night sorry every one but its me time
That's not what E pluribus unum (the correct spelling) means. It is a Latin phrase which translates as "out of many, one" or "from many, one". It symbolizes the union of the thirteen colonies to create the United States of America. Also, it is not in the Constitution; the motto appears on the Great Seal of the United States and on most coins.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Jack Whittaker Part Two.
Poor soul
, he should have stuck to baseball...... now he's just a crispy third baseman on cloud nine. 
Aww c'mon now brat, your a kill joy.
What are your big plans........to hook up with some "Bubbly Blondes". 
i'm gettin my ticket today
Good Luck everyone
Good luck helpmewin!
I think I'll grab one more myself, just for good measure.
$320=wife an me waiving at our boat
I got the winning ticket, sticking with the I already bought.
How are you going to get the $2 million without powerplay on that ticket. Shame on you!-weshar75