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[h=4]Powerball sales soar as jackpot reaches $900 million[/h]So many people were playing in Iowa that some stores ran out of paper for tickets.
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The Powerball jackpot has reached $900 million, the largest lottery prize in the U.S. history, after frenzied buy-ins across the country. VPC
A person purchases Powerball lottery tickets from a newsstand in Philadelphia. Players will have a chance Saturday night at the biggest lottery prize in U.S. history.(Photo: AP)
Frenzied ticket-buying for a shot at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the USA's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>largest lottery prize ever<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pushed the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Powerball jackpot to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$900 million hours before<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Saturday night's drawing.
Lottery fever —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>already at a frantic level after Wednesday's drawing failed to produce a winner<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is now on an endless loop, with more players pushing the jackpot ever<span style="color: Red;">*</span>higher and, in turn, driving more to plunk down $2 per<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ticket for a chance to win.
So many people were playing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Powerball<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Iowa on Friday that lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said some stores were running out of paper for tickets, leaving lottery workers scrambling to resupply the outlets, the Associated<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Press reported.
“You can throw out the logic. You can throw out the statistics,” Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery told AP. “We’ve never seen jackpots like this. It’s a new experience for all of us.”
The drawing will be held at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>10:59 p.m. ET Saturday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>All you have to do to claim the top prize is match all five white Powerball numbers and the red Powerball. The odds of nailing it are<span style="color: Red;">*</span>around<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1 in 292 million.
The jackpot, which had already hit record territory before<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wednesday's drawing, has swollen to ever-higher levels<span style="color: Red;">*</span>because none of the players in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>44 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and the U.S. Virgin Islands since Nov. 7 has claimed the top prize, which has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rolled over 18 times.
USA TODAY
Q&A: 10 things to know as record $900M Powerball looms
That was exactly what lottery officials hoped for last fall when they bumped up the odds from a mere one in 175 million, spurring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ever higher<span style="color: Red;">*</span>jackpots by making it harder to win the larger amounts.
Winners of the top prize<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are paid in 30 annual installments or as a one-time, lump sum payment. Jackpot prizes must be claimed within 60 days after the drawing to receive the cash option of $558<span style="color: Red;">*</span>million.
If no one matches all the numbers Saturday night,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the next drawing is expected to soar to $1.3 billion, according to officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game.
USA TODAY
The first things to do if you win the lottery
The previous record<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Powerball of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$590.5 million was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>won by a single player in Florida in 2013.
Mega Millions holds the record for the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>biggest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. lottery<span style="color: Red;">*</span>jackpot ever —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$656<span style="color: Red;">*</span>million<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>won by ticket holders in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>three states. The winners<span style="color: Red;">*</span>took a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$474 million payout, the largest in North American history.
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The Powerball jackpot soared again Satur...
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