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$1.3B Powerball prize is largest jackpot ever

OMAHA, Neb. — Disappointed you didn't win the Powerball jackpot this weekend? Don't be.

Lottery officials say the prize has swelled to an estimated $1.3 billion — the world's largest. Ever. “Biggest jackpot in the history of the world. Absolutely confirmed,” Texas official Gary Grief said.

The jackpot is so big that billboards have to advertise the price as $999 million because they're not built to show billions. The lottery computers will handle the decimal point without a problem.

No one matched all six Powerball numbers Saturday night, leading to the astronomical prize. And that is all but certain to grow before the next drawing Wednesday. The odds to win are one in 292.2 million. Seventy-five percent of all the possible combinations were purchased before Saturday's drawing, Grief said, and he expects that enough tickets will be sold to cover about 80 percent by Wednesday. About 95 percent of Powerball tickets have computer-generated numbers.

The jackpot has ballooned since its Nov. 4 starting point of $40 million. Saturday's winning numbers — 16-19-32-34-57 and Powerball number of 13 — did gain some people wealth: 25 tickets won $1 million by matching five numbers, and three other tickets won $2 million as they paid extra to multiply smaller prizes.

The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday night’s drawing will be an estimated $1.3 billion — the largest lottery jackpot in the world.Not that there aren’t large jackpots elsewhere. Spain’s massively popular Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo,” is ranked as the world’s richest. It doles out a large jackpot and as well as many others, instead of one large jackpot like the Powerball. El Gordo last month showered $2.4 billion across the country.As for the U.S., here’s a look at the 10 previous highest jackpots and where the winners were from:1. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)2. $636 million, Mega Millions Dec 17, 2013 (two tickets, from California and Georgia)3. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (one ticket from Florida)4. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (two tickets from Arizona and Missouri)5. $564.1 million, Powerball, Feb 11, 2015 (three tickets, from North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas)6. $448.4 million, Powerball, Aug 7, 2013 (three tickets, one from Minnesota and two from New Jersey)7. $425.3 million, Powerball, Feb 19, 2014 (one ticket from California)8. $414 million, Mega Millions, March 18, 2014 (two tickets from Florida and Maryland)9. $399.4 million, Powerball, Sept 18, 2013 (one ticket from South Carolina)10. $390 million, Mega Millions, March 6, 2007 (two tickets from Georgia and New Jersey)Sources: AP archives and www.powerball.com

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