3rd highest POWERBALL drawing ever, an estimated $900M jackpot up for grabs

Mel Holt,Nikki DeMarco
·3 min read
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The current POWERBALL jackpot has rolled over again and has reached an estimated jackpot of a whopping $900 million, making Monday’s drawing the third-largest POWERBALL ever and seventh-highest jackpot in lottery history.

The game has rolled over 36 times since April 22 without a winner.

In Brevard County, the Marathon/A1 Discount has seen its share of winners, but never a POWERBALL winner.

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“So, I don’t know. I mean, I could use this. This would be an answer to a lot of issues,” said first-time POWERBALL player, Donna Carlisle.

The family-owner Rockledge business, which opened in 1989, has had a Florida Lottery winner, a $250,000 scratch-off winter, and most recently – a Fantasy Fiver winner.

Mike Patel told Channel 9 that big potential prizes like the current POWERBALL and MEGA MILLIONS jackpots do drive ticket sales.

“Yeah, regulars buy more, and some people don’t know about it,” Patel said.

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If you win the jackpot, you have the option to receive your winning in 30 annual installments or as a one-time, lump-sum cash option of approximately $465 million for POWERBALL.

“The overall odds of winning any prize is about 1 in 24 or almost 1 in 25. But the odds of winning the jackpot is one in 292 million,” said Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis.

Since no one won Friday’s MEGA MILLION drawing, the jackpot has rolled to an estimated $640 million ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing, making it the seventh largest-ever jackpot for that game. The lump-sum cash option would be approximately $328 million if you win.

In 2014, a winning MEGA MILLIONS ticket was sold on Merritt Island. And two years later, a Melbourne Beach couple won part of what was then, the largest POWERBALL jackpot ever.

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Since joining POWERBALL in 2009, the game has generated more than $2.68 billion in contributions to education statewide. Florida is among the top-selling POWERBALL states in the country, with more than 123.1 million winning tickets totaling more than $3.59 billion in prizes, including 16 jackpot winners.

Since joining MEGA MILLIONS in 2013, the game has generated more than $1 billion for education and has awarded $1 billion in prizes to 72.3 million players.

The next MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be held Tuesday, July 18, at 11:00 p.m.

The next POWERBALL drawing will be held tonight, Monday, July 17, at 10:59 p.m.

The next MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be held Tuesday, July 18, at 11:00 p.m.

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Tickets must be purchased by 10:00 p.m.

The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $44 billion to enhance education and sending more than 950,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

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