Powerball’s $1.3 billion prize sure to draw Colorado Springs crowd
The Powerball jackpot jumped to $1.3 billion overnight, bringing the potential winnings for a Wednesday night drawing to a record high.
Since a $949.8 million pot was left unclaimed by Saturday night’s drawing, that left ticket-holders around the United States with a chance to claim unprecedented billions. .
“We expected it to get hit the last two drawings,” said Brooke Christopher, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Lottery. Instead, without winners, the Powerball jackpot has just continued to grow. “It’s remarkable really,” she added.
And while no Colorado Springs residents declared themselves billionaires after Saturday, at least one lucky soul won $50,000, Christopher said.
There were six Colorado winners in Saturday’s drawing, and while none had tickets with all six numbers required for Powerball, they all got tens of thousands of dollars. The Colorado Springs winning ticket was sold at the King Soopers off Uintah Street; two winning tickets were sold in Denver, and one each in Frisco, Northglenn and Fort Collins.
The winning Colorado Springs resident has not claimed the ticket, although that person has 180 days to do so, said Christopher.
Colorado Springs residents didn’t seem to be rushing to buy tickets Sunday night at liquor and convenience stores, where several employees said sales had not been remarkable.
But the potential payout sparked an exponential increase in ticket sales last week. During a typical week, Colorado Lottery makes $1.3 million on tickets, but during the last week before Saturday’s drawing, sales brought in $14.5 million, Christopher said.
Since 2001, two Colorado residents have won the Powerball jackpot. The largest sum of $90 million went to a truck driver from Rifle in August 2014, according to the Colorado Lottery.
Wednesday’s drawing will be at 8:59 p.m. Lottery tickets are $2, and to play, ticket-holders must choose five numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball number from 1 to 26. The numbers much match all six in the drawing to win the billion-dollar jackpot.
In Colorado, money spent on tickets goes towards Great Outdoors Colorado, the Conservation Trust Fund and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The Powerball sign at a 7-Eleven store on N. Tejon St. doesn’t have a way to show billions, so it stops at 999 million dollars. Sunday, January 10, 2016. Photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette
FILE – In this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, Powerball tickets are shown in San Lorenzo, Calif. No ticket matched all six Powerball numbers following the drawing for a record jackpot of nearly $950 million, lottery officials said early Sunday, Jan. 10, boosting the expected payout for the next drawing to a whopping $1.3 billion. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)