A woman purchase Powerball lottery tickets from a newsstand Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Philadelphia. Players will have a chance Wednesday night at the biggest lottery prize in nearly a year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A lottery official says the estimated prize for this weekend's Powerball drawing has grown to about $700 million, making it the largest jackpot of any lottery game in U.S. history.
Texas Lottery Executive Director Gary Grief says Saturday's drawing is growing quickly with brisk sales and could grow even larger by the weekend. The jackpot was increased Thursday from the previous estimate of $675 million after no one matched all the numbers in Wednesday night's $500 million drawing.
Wednesday's numbers were 2, 11, 47, 62 and 63, and the Powerball was 17.
The previous U.S. record was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot won in March 2012.
Powerball is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
A person purchase Powerball lottery tickets from a newsstand Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Philadelphia. Players will have a chance Wednesday night at the biggest lottery prize in nearly a year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Associated Press
Vilas Patel sells a Powerball ticket to Pravin Bhatt, right, at Leprechaun News in Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. The estimated Powerball jackpot for Wednesday night has soared to $500 million. The last time Powerball had grown this large was in February 2015, when three winners split a $564.1 million prize. (Chris Pedota/The Record of Bergen County via AP) ONLINE OUT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO ARCHIVING; MANDATORY CREDIT
The Associated Press