Saturday's Powerball could be the largest jackpot ever

May 16, 2013

More than half a billion dollars, that is what the next Powerball jackpot is predicted to be Saturday night. There is a chance it could end up as the largest Powerball jackpot ever. A little over a year ago the price of a Powerball ticket doubled from $1 to $2. That helped to increase the size of the jackpots and reduce the time it took for those pots to grow. 

Karen Bach is with the Arizona Lottery. She said last month nearly 30 million potential ticket buyers in California were added to the nationwide pool.

 "On April 3 they got into the game and started selling Powerball, and the result for Arizona has been quite significant. Because of California, the jackpots have been growing bigger and faster," Bach said.

 Arizona earned $165 million in the last fiscal year from  lottery ticket sales.

If no one wins the jackpot Saturday, and the odds are about 175 million to one that will happen, lottery fever could become a full blown epidemic with a possible jackpot of close to $1 billion.