Bad News, you didn't win the $900 million dollar Powerball jackpot on Saturday night.  Good news, NO ONE DID!  At the time I am writing this blog, they estimate the jackpot for this Wednesday to be 1.4 billion dollars, the largest EVER, but the number could grow even larger.  Are you in?

My husband and I were 'jump on the bandwagon' players until recently when the jackpot amount became ridiculously large.  According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, as of last Saturday, the Powerball numbers have been drawn an amazing 18 times without a winner.  If you are the lucky winner you could either choose to get your winnings in increments over the next 30 years or in a lump sum of cash. I think I would go for the 30 years increments to avoid overspending and dwindling my winning away because I'd do it!

There WERE winners last Saturday though, 18 million people had some sort of winning combination of numbers, some winning from two to four million dollars.  I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at that!  Heck, I get excited when I see a red line in my dollar pull tab!

Of course, if you buy multiple tickets, you increase your odds, but not by much because the odds are so small to begin with.  And if you're a smarty pants and think you're going to buy a tickets with every number combination to ensure you win, be prepared to buy about $584 million dollars worth of tickets.

How many times have you heard of someone who threw the ticket away or lost it?  Lottery officials say you should always sign your ticket when you purchase it so no one else can claim it's theirs and then check your ticket as soon as the numbers are drawn.  Good advice since a very long time ago my co-host had purchased a Powerball ticket and had it laying in the studio on the counter.  Well, I didn't know, I had never bought a Powerball ticket before at that time and I took a song request (still remember, it was for Clint Black) and wrote it right where my co-host would have signed had he won any money.  LOL!  I guess Clint Black would have had to come and claim the prize!

Here's the best tip I can give you, let the machine pick your numbers and here's why.  Most people use numbers below 31 because they use birth, anniversary or other important dates in their life which essentially ignores the fact that there are 69 numbered balls.  Although we did that with 5 tickets this past Saturday and only matched one number off all five of them and not one Powerball number.  Losers!!!!

The nest drawing is this Wednesday night at 10pm.  If you choose to play and try to win the largest Powerball jackpot to date, good luck to you.  That would get 2016 off to a great start and you'd make a haul.   That's one part of history I wouldn't mind being part of!  However, PLEASE don't get carried away, remember to play responsibly.  Never spend more than you can afford on a lottery ticket.

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