Powerball ticket from Phoenix convenience store wins $50,000 as jackpot climbs to $1.09 billion

PHOENIX – A Powerball ticket purchased at a Phoenix convenience store won $50,000 in Monday night’s drawing, but the billion-dollar jackpot kept growing.

An entry sold at the 7-Eleven on Greenway Road just east of Interstate 17 matched four of the five white numbers selected — 19, 24, 40, 42 and 56 — plus the red Powerball of 23.

The chances of hitting the $50,000 prize level are 1 in 913,129, which is far more likely than the jackpot odds of 1 in 292,201,338.

Why is the Powerball jackpot so large?

The streak of Powerball drawings without anybody matching all six numbers extended to 39, with the last jackpot win coming on New Year’s Day.

As a result, the jackpot for the next drawing on Wednesday increased to an estimated $1.09 billion ($527.3 million cash value). That would be the fourth-largest prize in Powerball history and the ninth-largest jackpot for any U.S. lottery game.

Powerball entries cost $2 and are available at over 3,000 Arizona Lottery retail locations throughout the state, with drawings on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights. The game is sanctioned in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Billion-dollar jackpots come in succession

In the nation’s other major multistate lottery game, a Mega Millions ticket sold in New Jersey hit a $1.13 billion jackpot last week.

“For lotteries, this is our second consecutive week of being able to offer players an advertised jackpot over $1 billion,” Drew Svitko, Powerball product group chair and Pennsylvania Lottery executive director, said in a press release Tuesday.

“If you’re thinking of buying a ticket for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, please keep in mind, it only takes one ticket to win, and a portion of your ticket sale will stay in your state to support good causes.”

Follow @kstonezone