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Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.5B

Posted at 9:51 AM, Jan 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-12 12:16:44-05

The world's largest lottery jackpot has grown to $1.5 billion because of continuing strong Powerball ticket sales.

Lottery officials increased their estimate of the huge jackpot for the second day in a row Tuesday because of immense interest in the prize.

The record-breaking Powerball jackpot could grow yet more before Wednesday's drawing if ticket sales continue to exceed expectations. Officials reassess the estimate daily.

The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are one in 292.2 million.

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Seventy-five percent of all the possible combinations were purchased before Saturday's drawing, Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief said, and he expects that enough tickets will be sold to cover about 80 percent by Wednesday. About 95 percent of Powerball tickets have computer-generated numbers.

The $1.5 billion prize would be paid in annual payments over 29 years. Or the winner could opt for a lump-sum payment of $930 million.

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