The odds are slim that you will win the Powerball jackpot but a shot at winning the $430 million jackpot may be worth the $2 investment for a ticket. There were no winners in the latest drawing on Saturday, August 12. The jackpot is now well on its way to $500 million. That's if no winning tickets are sold for the next drawing scheduled for Wednesday, August 15.
Winning Powerball numbers August 11
Although the official Powerball website confirms no one won the grand prize on Saturday night, that doesn't mean you didn't win anything. There's always a chance to win a non-jackpot prize.
Hey, you could score yourself $4 — or an even bigger windfall of $1,000,000.
Here are Saturday's winning numbers: 20-24-26-35-49 Powerball 19.
Non-jackpot prizes
Go grab your ticket out of the trash and see if you won a little Cash. Four $1 million tickets were sold for the August 11 drawing in California, Illinois, Texas, and New York, so at four people became instant millionaires on Saturday night. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night!
If you match all five white balls, you are a $1 million winner. It's a bummer, but not. One more number would make you a jackpot winner, but still, $1 mil is nothing to complain about. Even if you match the red ball you'll score a cool $4 — at least you get your ticket money back with cash to spare.
What are the odds of winning $430 million Powerball jackpot?
The odds of winning the jackpot are slim — 1 in 292,201,338. Those are daunting odds. According to CBS News, lottery players in the U.S. are more likely to get struck by lightning (odds of one in 13,500) than win the jackpot.
If you are heading to the store to buy a ticket, you'll have to be a multi-millionaire to assure that you will win.
According to CNBC, if you play every number combination, you will win the jackpot. That's 175,223,510 tickets at $2 each ($350,447,020). The jackpot's cash value is $273,400,000 (before taxes) — so you will get $0 on your investment.
Keep in mind, you may end up sharing the jackpot if someone else matches the Powerball winning numbers.
If so, you'll lose even more money — one-half of the cash value of Wednesday's jackpot is roughly $1.3 million.
Where to play
Powerball tickets are sold at lottery retailers in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Purchase a ticket for $2 up to one hour before the 10:59 p.m. ET drawings that are held on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
