Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - Tonight's Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated 1.73 billion -- the second largest lottery prize ever.
"The record Powerball jackpot is 2.04 billion, which was back in November -- about a year ago," says John Hagerty, Virginia Lottery spokesperson. "It's hard to say if the estimated jackpot will get to that amount if there's no winner in tonight's drawing, but we're definitely getting very close to record territory."
The jackpot has climbed to its current amount because there have been 35 consecutive drawings without a big winner. Ahead of Wednesday's drawing, the Virginia Lottery says it expects to sell about 3800 Powerball tickets per minute at certain times today.
While no one has won the jackpot, there have been lots of winners in Virginia. In Monday's drawing, there were 100,000 winners at all prize levels. There was one $1 million winner and two $150,000 winners.
"We've been seeing a lot of winners in Virginia," says Hagerty. "Don't forget that you can win even if you don't hit the jackpot."
