Powerball jackpot hits a record $425 million
Maryanne Rearick rings up Powerball lottery tickets for customers at a cigarette store in Whiting, Indiana.
Powerball's jackpot prize is now at a record $425 million, the game's biggest winnings ever.
No one has won recent drawings for the lottery, which was estimated at $325 million before numbers were picked last week (those were, for the record, 22-32-37-44-50, and the Powerball was 34), the Associated Press reported.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said sales over the holiday week for Saturday's drawing were strong, and estimated that sales would pick up even more in advance of the record-breaking pot.
"We'll watch sales to see if an adjustment upwards needs to be made," she said, according to NBC News.
Powerball awarded its largest prize to date, $365 million, to eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant in 2006, CNN reported.
The Powerball's cash payout for Wednesday's drawing would be $278.3 million — still shy of the biggest lottery prize ever, Mega Millions jackpot of $656 million.
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