Powerball Jackpot Hits $600 Million
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – What could you do with $600 million? The fiscally intoxicating thought may turn into a reality for someone on Saturday when the next Powerball drawing is held.
The Powerball jackpot was increased to $600 million early Friday afternoon, which makes it the largest prize ever in the history of the game. The previous largest jackpot in the Powerball was $587.5 million in November 2012.
In case you were curious, the $600 million jackpot would translate to a one-time lump sum payment of $376.9 million. The lump sum amount would pay for almost three full rosters of the Miami Dolphins, four Miami Heat rosters, and nine full rosters of the Miami Marlins. It would also pay for 9,471 semesters at Harvard at approximately $40,016 a semester or 97 Lamborghini Veneno's at $3.9 million per car.
But, it still wouldn't cover the full cost of the renovations to Sun Life Stadium or half the cost of Marlins Park.
Lottery officials expect jackpots to continue growing faster and bigger, thanks in part to a game redesign in January 2012 that increased the odds of winning some kind of prize of a lesser amount. On Wednesday, $1 million prizes were won in 16 states, and $2 million prizes were won in two states. California had six tickets among the winning ones Wednesday, including one sold in Nipton.
More than half of the all-time jackpot records have been reached in the last three years. The top two all-time jackpots — $656 million from a Mega Millions jackpot and $587.5 million from a Powerball jackpot — were achieved in 2012. Some states, like California, now sell tickets for both games.
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