Powerball balloons to $1.5 billion after no jackpot winner

Two California tickets nearly won the $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night by matching five of the six numbers to win more than $1 million each.

The Powerball jackpot jumped to $1.5 billion after no one won, making it the third-largest lottery win in US history. The record is $1.586 billion, set in 2016 and shared by Powerball winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.

In Wednesday’s drawing, the two California tickets got the first five numbers – 2, 11, 22, 35 and 60 – right but missed the Powerball number. The winning tickets are each worth $1,044,212 and one was sold at the Eastland Food Mart in Ontario and the other at a 7-Eleven in Milpitas.

Across California, 962,544 partially won tickets were sold, with payouts ranging from $4 to more than $20,000.

No one has won the Powerball jackpot since Aug. 3, when a Pennsylvania ticket holder took home a $202 million prize. Since then there have been 39 consecutive draws without anyone matching all six numbers.

The Powerball jackpot varies depending on how many numbers a player correctly guesses. Correctly guess all five numbers and the Powerball, and the winner can choose to be paid annually over 29 years or choose cash, which would be $745.9 million if the jackpot was $1.5 billion is US dollars.

The next Powerball draw is on Saturday. Players wanting to try their luck in California have until 7pm on Saturday to purchase tickets.