With no Wednesday winner, Powerball jackpot grows

Nobody matched all six numbers for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, so the jackpot for Saturday will increase to more than $350 million, according to Kansas Lottery officials.

The Powerball jackpot is expected to roll to an estimated $356 million. If choosing the cash option, a single winner could expect a payout of about $224 million.

This week, officials said, marked the first time that jackpots for the Powerball and Mega Millions games were both over $300 million at the same time.

The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday’s drawing is estimated to be $393 million, with a cash option of nearly $246 million. An unclaimed Mega Millions ticket worth $1,000 sold in Kansas for the drawing on Tuesday, lottery officials said.

Since June 10, six Powerball tickets have won $2 million each, including a ticket sold in Paola for the drawing last Saturday. The last time the Powerball jackpot was hit was June 10 when a single ticket in California won $447.8 million.

Players, however, shouldn’t get their hopes up. The chances of hitting the Powerball jackpot are about 1 in 292 million. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is slightly better – one in about 259 million.

This story was originally published August 10, 2017 at 9:14 AM with the headline "With no Wednesday winner, Powerball jackpot grows."