The Powerball jackpot has grown to $600 million. West Virginia Lottery Marketing Director Nikki Orcutt says that’s not surprising considering how many tickets are being sold in West Virginia and other states.
“We’re doing anywhere from 850 to 900 dollars a minute on statewide transactions,” Orcutt said Friday afternoon.
The $600 million is the highest jackpot in Powerball history and there’s a chance it could go higher before the Saturday night drawing.
The West Virginia Lottery is part of the multi-state lottery group that oversees Powerball. The state lottery receives revenue from half of all tickets sold here. Orcutt says the lottery could make as much as $2 million a day when the jackpot is this high.
Orcutt says there’s definitely Powerball fever.
“Once the jackpot is this big, people almost can’t help to at least get in the game,” she said. “For a two-dollar chance for ($600 million) a lot of people are willing to make that a reality.”
There will also likely be several $1 million winners in this round of Powerball. Orcutt says West Virginia has produced eight millionaires in Powerball and MegaMillions in the last two years.
The multi-state lottery games have helped the West Virginia Lottery’s bottom line this budget year, a year when new casinos in other states have hurt other gambling revenues.
“We just recently (Nov. 2012) had a 587-point-5 million dollar jackpot and then we had the 640 million MegaMillions jackpot, which is the current world record. We are definitely excited and that only helps increase our revenue in the state,” Orcutt said.
The MegaMillions drawing is set for Friday night with an estimated jackpot of $190 million.