You Have Until 9:59 p.m. to Buy Your Powerball Ticket for Tonight’s Drawing
A person purchases Powerball lottery tickets from a newsstand on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, in Philadelphia. Players will have a chance Wednesday night at the biggest lottery prize in nearly a year.
If you haven’t yet caught Powerball fever, then you have at least heard the barrage of media attention surrounding the ever-growing jackpot, which is now worth an estimated $1.5 billion.
The Phanatic has his furry fingers crossed, hoping he's the big winner of tonight's #Powerball drawing! pic.twitter.com/oQlc6HaVlz
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) January 13, 2016
The Powerball drawings happen bi-weekly, on Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Locally, Fox 29 broadcasts results at 11 p.m. Although individual states can cut off ticket sales earlier on drawing days, the latest you can join the masses of aspiring billionaires is generally 59 minutes before each drawing — in Pennsylvania, the cutoff is 9:59 tonight — by purchasing your $2 ticket. Find the lottery retailer nearest you here. Not all Powerball ticket vendors will be open until tonight’s 9:59 p.m. cutoff for buying tickets.
In order to claim the life-changing jackpot, you must match all five of the white balls, in any order, in addition to the red Powerball.
Seems easy enough, right? Well, the five white balls are selected from a drum holding a total of 69, while you have to pray that your red Powerball number gets drawn from its own pool of 26 balls.
Last July, the Powerball game changed its rules to make it more difficult for players to win the grand prize, while increasing the odds of players winning mere pocket change. Get all five white numbers and not the Powerball, and you’ll win a cool $1 million. Need an extra $4? Just match the red Powerball. Prizes worth $100 are also doled out to those who match either four white numbers or three white numbers along with the Powerball.
The odds are unthinkably slim — Pennsylvania is reportedly selling 10,000 tickets a minute — but if the Phillie Phanatic believes, why shouldn’t you?
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