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Winning Powerball Numbers; Jackpot Climbs over $400 Million

SCRANTON — The stakes are high with more than $400 million dollars on the line in Wednesday night’s Powerball jackpot drawing. The jackpot is one of...

SCRANTON -- The stakes are high with more than $400 million dollars on the line in Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot drawing.

The jackpot is one of the largest ever, and many people can't resist taking a shot at winning it all.

The Powerball jackpot is now up to at least $430 million, making it the 10th largest in the game's history. The largest Powerball jackpot hit $1.6 billion in January 2016.

The winning numbers are 52-10-61-28-13 and the Powerball is 02.

"When it gets up that high, 400 million, where are we going, you know? You have to take a shot!" said Ed Langan of Scranton.

According to the folks who run Powerball, the odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

"You can't win if you don't play. That's the way I see it," said Jerry Schalk of Scranton.

The last winning jackpot ticket was sold on December 17. There have been 18 drawings since then.

Powerball tickets are $2 and you can select your numbers or have a computer pick them for you.

If you match the first five numbers but not the Powerball number, it's a $1 million prize.

Changes were made to the Powerball game back in October 2015. Now, there are more white ball numbers to choose from and less Powerball numbers to choose from, making your odds of winning a lot harder.

"It goes up faster, the jackpot gets bigger quicker," Langan said. "I still play, I still give it a shot," he said.

The range of numbers for the white balls is 1 through 69 and the numbers for the Powerball are 1 through 26.

"A win is a win is a win. I'll take whatever I can get. If I win, I'll be happy and if I lose I'll still be happy," Schalk said.

The jackpot passed $400 million when no one won the big prize Saturday night. Nine second-prize tickets were sold.

Owners at Birney Quick Serve on Birney Avenue in Scranton say they've been very lucky with lottery games in general, especially the scratch-off games. They have their customers sign their winning ticket and hang them up in the store. They say they're going to start to need a bigger wall.

"Definitely see a lot more customers coming in when that Powerball gets big," said Kathy Lozinger. She works at the store on Birney Avenue.

Back in May 2014, the owners also sold a winning Cash 5 ticket worth more than $1 million. The store got its cut of $10,000.

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