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Powerball jackpot climbs to $550M; Mega Millions to $445M

ATLANTA — 11:42 p.m. EST Jan. 4:

The Mega Millions jackpot has been raised to $445 million ahead of Friday's drawing.

2:26 a.m. EST Jan. 4: 

The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $550 million – or $347.9 million cash – after no tickets matched all six numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing.

The winning numbers were 02-18-37-39-42 with a Powerball of 12.

One ticket sold in Florida won the Match 5 Power Play prize of $2 million, while tickets sold in California, Florida, North Carolina, New York and Oregon matched five numbers for a $1 million prize.

The next drawing is Saturday.

12:10 a.m. EST Jan. 4:

The Powerball numbers for Wednesday, Jan. 3

02-18-37-39-42  Powerball: 12

Earlier, Powerball officials announced that Wednesday’s jackpot was an estimated $440 million.

1:52 a.m. EST Jan. 3:

The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to an estimated $418 million – a $261.5 million cash payout – after no ticket matched all six numbers Tuesday.

Two tickets matched five numbers – one worth $4 million in Florida and another worth $1 million in Ohio, according to the Mega Millions website.

The numbers in Tuesday’s drawing were 1-42-47-64-70 with Mega Ball 22 and a Megaplier of 4x.

8:02 a.m. EST Dec. 31:

The Powerball numbers for Saturday, Dec. 30:

28-36-41-51-58  Powerball: 24

Nobody won the Powerball jackpot on Saturday night, and Powerball officials announced that Wednesday’s jackpot now stands at an estimated $440 million with a cash payout of $278.3 million.

BACKGROUND

If  you think luck will be on your side, think again. The odds of winning the grand prize for Powerball are 1 in 292.2 million.

But if the numbers are in your favor, Powerball has two winning options -- either a 30-payment annuity for the entire $440 million, or a one-time cash prize of $278.3 million.

For Mega Millions, the annuity is $343 million with the one-time cash payout of $215 million. The odds of winning Mega Millions are about 1 in 258 million.