The state lottery directors who sell the Powerball game increased the estimated jackpot today from $205 million to $212 million after strong sales during the past two days.
Besides being the largest lottery jackpot currently offered in the world, the new estimate of $212 million would also be the sixth largest Powerball jackpot ever won.
The estimated cash option for the drawing will be $110.3 million.
When the Powerball jackpot gets this high, players have fun talking about what they would do with the winnings, said Rebecca Paul, CEO and president of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. Were anticipating that this excitement will translate into millions of additional dollars for the education programs we fund.
According to Powerball officials, the current jackpot run started with the Wednesday, March 17, drawing, leading up to the drawing held on Wednesday, May 5 the 15th consecutive draw in which there was no jackpot winner.
More than 7.9 million Powerball players across the nation have won a total of more than $59.7 million in cash prizes since this jackpot run started, including eight Tennessee players who have won $100,000 each. (The record Powerball jackpot is $314.9 million, won by Jack Whittaker of Hurricane, W. Va., on Dec. 25, 2002.)
Since Tennessee launched Powerball ticket sales on April 19, more than $15 million in tickets have been sold for that game alone.
Powerball drawings are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:59 p.m. CST (10:59 p.m. EST). Watch for drawings at 10 p.m. CST (11 p.m. EST) on official Tennessee Lottery television stations throughout Tennessee.
As with all Tennessee Lottery games, profits from Powerball tickets sold in Tennessee remain in the state and go to fund education programs. Most immediately, the Lottery is charged with raising at least $88 million by July 1 in order to fund scholarships for an estimated 65,000 students expected to attend Tennessee colleges and universities in the fall.
good luck everyone o
I had a little...a $3 winner out of six tickets.