The Powerball jackpot jumped by $50 million, and now stands at $700 million for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. The cash option for the jackpot is $443 million. It is the second-largest Powerball jackpot ever.
If a Michigan player wins Wednesday’s $700 million jackpot, it would be the largest Powerball prize ever won in the state. On Aug. 15, 2012, Donald Lawson, of Lapeer, won a $337 million Powerball jackpot. Lawson’s jackpot also holds the record for the largest Lottery prize ever won in Michigan.
The last Michigan player to win the Powerball jackpot was Julie Leach, of Three Rivers. Leach won the game’s $310.5 million jackpot on Sept. 30, 2015.
Players still have plenty of time to purchase tickets for a chance to win the big jackpot. Players may buy $2 Powerball tickets for the drawing at Lottery retailers throughout the state and online at MichiganLottery.com until 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
A “Power Play” option that multiplies non-jackpot prizes by up to 10 times to a maximum of $2 million may be added to any Powerball play for only $1.
THE ODDS
The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million. Tom Rietz, a professor at the University of Iowa who researches probabilities, says one way to think about it is to envision the 324 million U.S. residents. Your chance of winning is roughly comparable to being that one lucky person out of the entire population, with everyone else losing.