Powerball jackpot grows ahead of Saturday drawing

• Bigger prizes — and fewer jackpot winners — have become the norm for the past few years after the two lotteries made the games harder to win and more enticing to play.

Driving the news: Wednesday's drawing was the 30th consecutive drawing in this jackpot run. The last Powerball jackpot was won on July 19, per a lottery news release.

• The cash option for the Saturday, Sept. 30 drawing is now up to $432.4 million.

Flashback: Powerball made the game harder to win in October 2015 when it added more white balls to the mix. Mega Millions changed its rules and odds in 2017.

• Changes to both lotteries were designed to create more possible number combinations, making the chances of winning more of a pipe dream.
• Lower odds of winning have meant larger jackpots with bigger prizes, leading more people to pick up tickets in hopes of winning.

Winning Powerball numbers for Sept. 27 drawing

The winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing were 1, 7, 46, 47 and 63 with a red Powerball of 7.

Did anyone win the Powerball Wednesday?

The latest: While there wasn't a jackpot winner from Wednesday's drawing, there were more than 1.8 million winning tickets across the country, Powerball said in a release.

Next Powerball drawing time

Powerball drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The next drawing is at 10:59pm ET Saturday and will be broadcast on the Powerball website and television stations across the country from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee.

How to play Powerball lottery

State of play: Lottery players can pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers — five different numbers from 1 to 69 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.

• "Quick Pick" or "Easy Pick" tickets can also be purchased where numbers are selected automatically.

Powerball ticket price and Power Play

Powerball tickets are $2 per play but for an extra $1 per play you can add the Power Play feature to "multiply non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 times."

• The multiplier number is randomly selected just before each drawing.

• The Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million, Powerball said.

Between the lines: The 10X multiplier is only in play when the advertised jackpot annuity is $150 million or less, according to the lottery.

Powerball cut-off time: How late to buy tickets

The deadline to purchase tickets for Wednesday's drawing varies by state because Powerball tickets are sold by individual lotteries.

• The cut-off times are typically one to two hours before the drawing, according to Powerball.

Powerball tickets sold in these states

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not participate in the lottery.

Powerball odds

Between the lines: The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

• The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9.
• The jackpot odds for Mega Millions are 1 in 303 million.

Yes, but: The odds of being struck by lightning in a year are less than one in a million, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Editor's note: This story was updated with additional information, including an updated chart with the increased Powerball jackpot.