Navigation

Powerball Fever Spreads Across Florida

In case you didn't know, tonight is the big, huge, very gigantic Florida Powerball drawing. And even though the odds of getting hit in the face by a bolt of lightning are far better than winning the Powerball, people in Florida are still apparently buying tickets for it in droves...
Share this:

In case you didn't know, tonight is the big, huge, very gigantic Florida Powerball drawing.

And even though the odds of getting hit in the face by a bolt of lightning are far better than winning the Powerball, people in Florida are still apparently buying tickets for it in droves.

According to the Palm Beach Post, tickets for this thing are being bought at a rate of 4,100 a minute.

No one has won it since October 26, which means the turnover has grown to $500 million.

Oddsmakers say the chances of winning are 1 in 175 million. But hey, good luck and all!

But there is some good news. And that is, Florida leads the nation in Powerball winners (hooray! we're finally good at something that isn't completely dumb!)

And even though you literally have a better chance at winning an Oscar, lottery experts say there's a 60 percent chance someone in the country will hit the jackpot Wednesday night.

Also, yes. Lottery experts is a thing.

Something else to keep on mind is that even though the jackpot is up to $500 million, the actual payout is $327 million after Uncle Sam takes a big, wet bite.

But three hunnit million is still bananas, and complaining about it is the ultimate #firstworldproblems hashtag.

Here are some other neat numbers, to look over tomorrow morning, when you didn't win and have to go back to that crap job:

$2: Cost of a ticket.

10 p.m.: Deadline Wednesday to buy a ticket.

42: States where game is played, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

$78.3 million: Winning Powerball ticket that was sold in Royal Palm Beach in 2010.

3: Where Florida ranks in sales (behind New York and Massachusetts).

$656 million: Largest jackpot in history (Mega Millions prize in March).

$500 million: The record jackpot in tonight's drawing, beating a $365 million Powerball pot won in 2006 by eight workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant.

$327 million: Value of the jackpot to a single winner in a lump sum after taxes.

1 in 175,223,520: Odds of winning. According to ABC News, you're 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.

80 percent: Proportion of people who opt for computer-generated numbers.

2: Number of times this year a multistate lottery has racked up a record jackpot. In April, Mega Millions hit $656 million before being won by people in three states: Maryland, Kansas, and Illinois.

60 percent: Likelihood Wednesday night's drawing will finally produce a winner, according to Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

$60.8 billion: The amount of money lotteries generated for participating states last fiscal year, up 8.7 percent from the previous year.

The drawing is tonight. GOOD LUCK, YOU GUYS!



KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of South Florida, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.