Huge Powerball prize spurring lottery frenzy
The Powerball jackpot continues to climb to never-before-seen heights, with record ticket sales reported in Kentucky and across the country.
The jackpot for Wednesday night was raised Monday morning by another $100 million -- to an estimated $1.4 billion. That's billion with a "b." The estimated one-time cash option would be $868 million, if any winner doesn't want to take the payoff in 30-year annual installments.
Kentucky Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said that during much of the day on Saturday Kentucky Lottery outlets were selling nearly 100 Powerball tickets a second. He said lottery mania had reached "uncharted waters."
The Saturday numbers were: 16 – 19 – 32 – 34 – 57 Powerball 13. That jackpot was just over $950 million.
And Polston said the numbers were not matched, in spite of the fact that 78 percent of all the more than 292 million possible six-number combinations were covered by players in the 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories where the game is offered. The states include Kentucky and Indiana.
The twice-weekly Powerball drawings last produced a jackpot winner Nov. 4. Wednesday night’s drawing is scheduled at 11 p.m. Eastern time, and, with ticket-buying intense, the large majority of the number combinations will again likely be covered.
Kentucky had four $50,000 Powerball winners from Saturday’s Powerball drawing. The tickets were sold in Elizabethtown, Louisville, Mayfield and Richmond. Those players had tickets that matched four of the first five white balls and the Powerball.
Kentucky has had 18 Powerball jackpot winners, or shared winners. The largest prize was claimed by Rob and Tuesday Anderson of Georgetown -- $128.6 million in 2010.
The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 24.9. But the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.
The previous highest U.S. lottery jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions prize in 2012. The previous top Powerball jackpot was $590.5 million in 2013.
In Kentucky the automatic tax withholding for any lottery prize greater than $5,000 is 31 percent -- 25 percent federal and 6 percent state taxes. Winners may be subject to additional taxes, depending on their annual earnings.
Kentucky Lottery officials try to return nearly 30 percent of the proceeds from all ticket sales to the state treasury. Lottery officials had bemoaned lagging Powerball ticket sales prior to October, when the rules for the game were changed. The matrix was enlarged to make it harder to hit the jackpot, and the changes have clearly had the desired effect.
Lottery proceeds in Kentucky fund college scholarship and grants programs in the Commonwealth. The Kentucky Lottery is the sole funding source of the popular KEES scholarship program, and proceeds are used to fund the need-based College Access Program and Kentucky Tuition Grants.
About 95 cents of every dollar in non-loan student aid awarded by the Commonwealth comes straight from the sale of lottery tickets. More than $2.4 billion has been provided to these programs since 1999.
Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.
