New Year's Day Powerball jackpot soars to $500 million

The New Year's Day Powerball jackpot rose to $500 million, up from $483 million. The new jackpot estimate has a cash equivalent of $355.9 million.

The jackpot was raised after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn in Wednesday's drawing. There have been 37 drawings in a row without a jackpot winner.

“Ticket sales have been strong through the holidays, and we anticipate the majority of ticket purchases for the next drawing will happen on New Year’s Day,” said May Scheve Reardon, Powerball Product Group chair and Missouri Lottery executive director.

The Powerball jackpot was last hit on Oct. 4 in California when a single ticket won a $699.8 million grand prize. This was the fifth largest prize in Powerball history.

Game leaders urged players to check their tickets for one of the nine ways to win.

Wednesday's drawing produced one winning Match 5 ticket worth $1 million in Georgia and two winning Double Play tickets, worth $500,000 each, sold in Michigan and Puerto Rico.

Powerball will also be holding a special $1 million drawing just after midnight, eastern time, on Jan. 1. The winner will be chosen from five finalists who entered the promotion through their local lottery.

The largest Powerball jackpot hit this year was on Jan. 20 for $731.1 million in Maryland.