Business & Tech

Powerball Jackpot up to $400 million; Drawing on Wednesday

The drawing for the $400 million Powerball jackpot is Wednesday.

By the end of the night Wednesday, some lucky person might be nearly half a billion dollars richer.

The Powerball lottery drawing takes place at 9:59 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 7. To find your nearest Illinois lottery retailer, click here. 

Each Powerball ticket costs $2. Players choose five numbers plus a sixth Powerball number. Players matching all six numbers can select an annuitized amount paid out over 29 years or a lump sum payment. For complete details, visit the Powerball website.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Fox News reports, "if Wednesday's jackpot doesn't top $400 million, a single winner choosing the cash option would collect $230.3 million before taxes. But no matter how many people play the game, the odds of matching all six numbers remains 1 in 175.2 million."

"The record Powerball jackpot was $590.5 million, won in May by an octogenarian of modest means in Florida," CNN reports. "The second-largest jackpot of $587 million was split by two players -- one from Arizona and one from Missouri -- in November 2012."

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

What would you do with $400 million? Let us know in the comments.

Read more on FoxNews.com.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here