Powerball Jackpot Grows to $320M

All those wannabe millionaires who played Powerball in the hopes of winning the $260 million jackpot will be at work today after none of them matched all the numbers from Wednesday night's drawing.

Saturday's jackpot has now swelled to a robust $320 million, which could easily rise before the weekend. The cash option for the jackpot right now is an estimated $198.3 million.

Wednesday night's Powerball was the 12th consecutive drawing with no winner. In case you were wondering, the numbers were 13, 14, 17, 43, 54 and the Powerball was 15.

(Image Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

There were three lucky ticket-holders from Florida, Kentucky and Ohio who won $1 million prizes for matching the first five numbers.

This is the third Powerball jackpot in less than a year to exceed $250 million. Two tickets-holders won the mother lode of all lotteries in November. Matthew Good of Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Mark and Cindy Hill of Dearborn, Mo., split the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot.

Lottery officials said hopeful millionaires were purchasing 130,000 tickets a minute on the day of the $587.5 million drawing.

The November Powerball jackpot was the second-largest lotto payout in U.S. history.

The price of a Powerball ticket doubled in January 2012 from $1 a game to $2, which has accounted for the unprecedented richness of the pot.

"We redesigned the game and with more money going into the game, the jackpot prize pool has doubled so more people are playing because the jackpot is growing higher," Multi-State Lottery Association President Jim Haynes said.

Powerball is offered in 44 states and your chances of striking it rich are one in 175,000,000, meaning you'd have been 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.

"For $2, it's inexpensive entertainment and you can buy a part of the dream," Haynes said.