By Minyvonne Burke -
NBC News
The Powerball lottery raffles this January 1 a prize of 500 million dollars, which if collected in cash would be just below 356 million dollars.
"Ticket sales have been strong over the holidays, but we anticipate that the majority of purchases will be made on New Years Day," said May Scheve Reardon, president of the Powerball and director of the Missouri Lottery in a press release. .
"
A prize of this size is a great way to start the year
, but remember to play responsibly," he added.
A customer buys Powerball and Mega Millions tickets at a convenience store in Northbrook.Nam Y. Huh / AP
No one matched all six numbers in the last 2021 draw, held on Wednesday.
A ticket sold in Georgia won a million dollars in
Match 5
.
And two tickets, one in Puerto Rico and one in Michigan, each won $ 500,000 at
Double Play
.
The latest Powerball grand prize was awarded Oct. 4 to
a ticket in California that fetched $ 699.8 million
.
It was the fifth largest in the history of the draw and the seventh in the history of the United States lottery, according to the press release.
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Tickets to participate in the drawing are on sale for two dollars in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
However, experts warn that
the odds of winning the Powerball prize are slim
: just one in 292 million, according to Lottery USA's estimate.
In fact, he is more likely to become president of the United States, an event with a probability of one in 32.6 million, according to the informational website The Motley Fool.
You are also more likely to die from bee or wasp stings.
The National Safety Council estimates that the chances of dying from a bite of these insects are one in 54,093.
Even being struck by lightning is a more likely event than winning the lottery, with a one in 500,000 chance ... and having two lightning strikes in your lifetime, with a one in 9 million chance.
Luck!
