Powerball pot now $430 million after Saturday’s drawing failed to yield a winner

(UPI) — On Saturday night, another Powerball drawing came and went without a winning ticket. As a result, the lottery jackpot now stands at an estimated $430 million.

There hasn’t been a Powerball winner since June 10. The next Powerball drawing will happen on Wednesday.

The weekend didn’t go by without a lottery winner. On Friday, a ticket buyer in Illinois won the Mega Millions jackpot, an estimated $393 million — the fifth largest jackpot in 15 years.

Prior to Friday’s drawing, the two major multi-state lotteries had both gone several weeks without a winner. Lotto ticket sales almost always grow as jackpots increase.

“You see more people in line buying both tickets when both games are over $300 million,” Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told CNN.

Roughly two-thirds of all lottery tickets are sold at convenient stores, but Friday’s winning Mega Millions ticket was purchased at Nick’s Barbecue, a restaurant in Palos Heights, Illinois, roughly 20 miles outside Chicago.

Despite millions of people buying tickets, both Powerball and Mega Millions can go without a winner for lengthy periods of time because the odds of winning are staggeringly low.

Friday’s Mega Millions winner defied odds of 1 in 258.9 million. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

Written by UPI writer Brooks Hays

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