The Powerball jackpot climbed to $ 321 million for the Saturday night lottery draw.
The winning numbers for Saturday’s draw were: 40, 17, 36, 25, 13 and 05 with a Power Play of X2
The cash option for the 10:59 p.m. draw was $ 189 million.
The jackpot is the 33rd largest in lottery history, surpassing the $ 320 million prize awarded by The Big Game (now Mega Millions) on April 16, 2002. Three winning tickets were sold for this draw, including one bought in New Jersey by Englishtown couple Jorge and Joanne Lopes.
No one hit the jackpot on Wednesday. No one across the country won second prize of at least $ 1 million in the design. In New Jersey, the best we did in the last draw was match four numbers and win $ 500.
The jackpot has climbed in the seven weeks since a New Hampshire woman won a jackpot of $ 559.7 million on January 6. She has not claimed the prize as she fights New Hampshire Lottery officials for the right to receive the money without revealing her name.
This jackpot is the seventh largest in the history of the American lottery.
Lottery winners in New Jersey are not allowed to remain anonymous, but are allowed to attempt to set up a tiered trust to hide their identities.
The Powerball jackpot was won seven times last year. Six have been identified and all have claimed their winnings.
A Powerball ticket costs $ 2. The odds of hitting the jackpot are 292,201,338-1. Players have about a 1 in 11,688,053 chance of winning the second prize of at least $ 1 million.
The draws take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The game is offered in 44 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.