CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There is a good chance someone could match the next numbers drawn in the Powerball game as more people purchase tickets, according to West Virginia Lottery spokesman Randy Burnside.
“There’s an 86 percent likelihood that someone has that ticket,” he said of Wednesday night’s drawing for a record-breaking jackpot of $1.5 billion.
The cash option is an estimated $930 million.
The state Lottery sold nearly $5.2 million in Powerball tickets from last Thursday to last Saturday night’s drawing.
“To put that in perspective, when the jackpot is lower at the $40-$50 million range, our average sales are in the neighborhood of $240,000,” Burnside said on Tuesday’s edition of 580 Live.
Burnside said this week’s daily sales have topped $1 million with the latest data showing more than $3.1 million for Wednesday’s drawing.
There have been 20 Powerball drawings since the last winner, in Tennessee, took home the jackpot prize on Nov. 4, 2015.
As the jackpot value continues to grow, Burnside said more first-time players are purchasing tickets.
“I think a lot of folks who usually don’t play the lottery are seeing the news coverage about this world-record jackpot and they want to be apart of it,” he said.
There were just under 104,000 winners in West Virginia following Saturday’s drawing. Burnside said a person or group can still win a small prize if they don’t hit the big jackpot.
“We definitely encourage folks to check their tickets. Even if you don’t match all six of those numbers, you can still win a great prize,” he said.
There have been eight Powerball jackpot winners in state history. Burnside said they’re hoping for a ninth win in West Virginia.
Tickets can be purchased up until 9:59 p.m on Wednesday. The drawing will be at 10:59 p.m.