Powerball jackpot leaps to $750 million after no one wins $620 million
DES MOINES, Iowa -- No one won the latest mammoth Powerball prize, so the estimated jackpot now grows to at least three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollars -- $750 million -- the fourth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history.
The next Powerball drawing will be Saturday night.
Wednesday night's $620 million Powerball grand prize looked almost puny given all the attention lavished on the $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in South Carolina Tuesday.
Only three lottery jackpots have been larger than this Powerball, but with two giant prizes in one week, it's hard not to compare.
No one has won the Powerball jackpot since Aug. 11, when a man from the New York City borough of Staten Island took home $245.6 million.
The Powerball numbers that came up in Wednesday night's drawing were 3, 21, 45, 53, 56 and Powerball 22.
Powerball tickets cost $2 per play and are sold sold in 44 states.
Chances of winning
The odds of winning a jackpot -- abysmal at best -- are actually better for Powerball than Mega Millions: 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball and 1 in 302.5 million for Mega Millions.
Who buys lotto tickets?
About two-thirds of Americans gamble. Last year, they spent $72.97 billion on traditional lottery tickets, according to Gallup.
On average, that's $206.69 per person. "Our obsession with lotteries, with gambling, is that unicorn feeling of, like, 'Maybe it'll be me!"' CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger says.
She points out that some people don't necessarily play to win. "They just want to take a moment out of their day to consider how to dream big," Schlesinger says.
The average American spends about $223 per year on lottery tickets, according to a survey from LENDedu.
Massachusetts residents have the biggest taste for playing the odds, spending almost $763 per year on lottery tickets, the study found. North Dakotans are at the opposite end of the spectrum, spending about $44 per year on lotteries.
CBSNews.com's Peter Martinez contributed to this report
