Mr. Lucky

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot climbs to $325 million

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 01:01 PM PST

Tickets for Saturday’s Powerball drawing are selling so briskly that officials have increased the estimated jackpot from $310 million to $325 million, the Florida Lottery just announced.

Of course, it may climb even higher by the time ticket sales cut off at 10 p.m. Saturday.

The one-time, lump-sum payment is now estimated at $202.9 million.

Powerball 101: Some tips for the new or occassional player

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 05:02 AM PST

With an estimated jackpot of $310 million, folks who seldom, or never, play the game will be buying a ticket for Saturday night’s drawing.

My first advice: Buy the ticket today. It is going to be a zoo at lottery retailers on Saturday and the later it gets, the crazier it will be. And remember, Powerball sales cut off at 10 p..m.

If you haven’t bought a Powerball ticket in a while, the cost has doubled from $1 to $2. That’s the reason the jackpot has escalated so quickly.

They still have Power Play, which multiplies non-jackpot prizes, for an extra $1. But since you can now win $1 million without buying Power Play, I no longer recommend it.

You can ask for a Quick Pick and let the computer do the work, or you can fill out a playslip and pick any or all of the numbers. Some folks have a favorite number between 1 and 35 and they pick it for the Powerball and let the computer pick the rest of the numbers.

You need five numbers between 1 and 59 and you can pick any number of them yourself and mark QP to let the computer pick the rest.

The estimated $310 million jackpot is based on taking equal payments over 30 years. You also have the option of taking a lump-sum payment and it is estimated at $193.4 million for Saturday night’s drawing.

With the recent changes, the odds of winning the big jackpot have improved, but not much. They used to be about 1 in 195 million and now they are about 1 in 175 million.

But you can’t win if you don’t play!