Almost every American purchased a Powerball ticket for Saturday's drawing but unfortunately nobody one the jackpot prize.
The pot continues to grow, though, and it is estimated that it will roll up to $1.3 billion by Wednesday. Powerball ticket holders clutched on to their numbers tight but nobody matched the winning numbers.
The odds of winning the next jackpot round is 1 in 292.2 million. The odds are huge but Gary Grief, executive director of Texas Lottery says:
That just shows the total randomness of Powerball.
Grief explained that after Saturday, they were selling more than $1.2 million worth of Powerball tickets almost every minute which means millions of Americans are vying for the next big pot that could amount to $1.3 billion.
Statistically speaking, Jeffrey Miecznikowski, an associate professor of biostatistics, explains the odds:
... The chances of picking the right combination of numbers is like flipping a coin and getting heads 28 times in a row,
So the odds are very small.
Saturday's winning numbers were 16-19-32-34-57 and the Powerball number was 13.
Miecznikowski speculates that the chances of winning may be lower because of the Powerball number when ticketholders choose their own numbers, making them mostly unlucky.
The next jackpot is twice as large as the previous lottery prize back in March 2012 and Powerball advertisements are getting problems because they are configured to display in millions rather than in billions. Regardless of this little glitch in marketing and advertising, millions of Americans are still purchasing Powerball tickets to grab a chance at winning the billion dollar pot.
So here we are now, 20 rolls into our next jackpot run with $1.3 billion on the line for Wednesday night.
Grief said in an interview.
Are you holding the lucky golden ticket this time? As the famous Hunger Games saying goes, "May the odds be ever in your favor."
