No Powerball winner, Wednesday's drawing estimated at $1 billion
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Monday night’s Powerball jackpot grew to an estimated $900 million and people throughout the Bay Area took their chance at winning. The winning numbers are 5-8-9-17-41 and the red Powerball number is 21. Since there was no winning ticket matching all six numbers in Monday's drawing, Lottery officials project a one-billion dollar jackpot for Wednesday.
Just last year, one person bought a ticket at the 7-11 Store on Kooser Road in San Jose worth $247 million and people buying tickets there Monday say winning a huge jackpot would be a dream come true.
"My dream is that I’m not broke anymore and that I win the lottery," said John Bell, of San Jose, who bought his ticket at the 7-11 on Kooser Road.
Monday’s Powerball jackpot is the 3rd largest in the game’s history and the 7th largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The last Powerball winner with all six numbers was back in April. Vernon Smith says if he were ever to win big, the first thing he’d do is find a good attorney.
"I don’t know. People out there would say, ‘Oh he won some money. Remember me?'"
The last Powerball winning ticket was bought in Ohio and was worth $252.6 million. Tickets are sold in 45 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and it only takes $2 to play. The 7-11 on Kooser Road has become like a lucky charm for players in San Jose with one player splitting the big pot last year.
"Actually it was two winners, one here and one in Philadelphia. So each was $247 million," said Behzad Vahdani, a 7-11 Employee.
Of Powerball’s 10 largest jackpots, four winning tickets have been purchased in California and Powerball officials say the odds of winning Monday’s jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
"Honestly, I just never thought that I could win but then like, how am I going to win if I never play, right?" said Judyanna, of San Jose.
There is also another big jackpot on Tuesday for Mega Millions worth about $640 million.