Powerball jackpot steady at $1.5 billion

DES MOINES, Iowa — A lottery official says the estimated Powerball jackpot remains at $1.5 billion, still the largest lottery jackpot in the world.

Kelly Cripe of the Texas Lottery says 85.8 percent of possible number combinations have been selected ahead of the drawing scheduled for Wednesday evening.

The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The $1.5 billion prize would be paid in annual payments over 29 years, or the winner could opt for a lump-sum payment of $930 million.

Cripe says if no one wins the jackpot Wednesday, the estimated jackpot for Saturday’s drawing will increase to $2 billion, with a cash value of $1.24 billion.

The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on Nov. 4. No one has matched all six Powerball numbers since then, so the prize kept growing.