The lottery is a game that many people enjoy playing, whether it be for the thrill of maybe winning it big, or they just enjoy the lottery games, many people enjoy gambling their money in the lottery. For some people, the lottery will change their lives forever, in which hitting the jackpot will make them rich for essentially forever. For most, however, the lottery will reap them no benefits, instead they will waste their dollars on a game that doesn’t pay out. One of the most popular lottery services that is routinely played in North America is Powerball, a lottery game that is served by more than 40 lotteries nationwide. Before anyone delves into playing the Powerball, however, they should know of recent news for the lottery, as well as past winner fortunes.

What Are The Latest News?

The Powerball, like many other lotteries, is frequently in the news. Whether this is due to larger jackpots, or a growth in customers, it is hard for Powerball to go for a week without being mentioned in some fashion or form. Here is the latest scoop on the ultra popular lottery service.

Powerball Reaches $121 Million – The upcoming draw is expected to be at $121 million for the jackpot. The last winner of the Powerball won it on April 18, the winner was from the Puerto Rico area, in which he won $50 million dollars. The Powerball is offering $70.5 million dollars of the 110 as cash value, to whoever is lucky enough to win the jackpot. The last draw, which occurred on May 13, 2015, had a jackpot value at about 100 million so there has been about a 10 million dollar increase for the next draw.

The winning numbers for jackpot were 1-25-29-31-47, with the powerball number being 7.

Past Winners Of The Lottery For 2015

The Powerball lottery hasn’t been won in a while, however, this does not mean other sizable lottery amounts have not been won. In fact, many people have been able to win the lottery nationwide, cash prices that have been several of millions of dollars. Here are a couple of the past winners that have been made lucky by the Powerball lottery.

Four Friends From New Jersey Win It Big (March 25, 2015) – During the March 25, 2015 draw for the lottery, four people were able to make millions when they collectively pooled together cash for a winning lottery ticket. The winning ticket value was good for $40 million, which was split between all four lottery syndicate members equally. With the math calculated out, they will all share the cash option of 26.8 million which will be owned by all of them.

The names of the friends Daniel Blackley Jr, Scott Goldberg, Robert Kerr, and Thomas Reagan, who said in an article published on North Jersey’s website, that they “didn’t plan on moving out of their houses, or changing their lifestyles by that much”.

50 Million Dollar Jackpot Won – In Puerto Rico, a winning ticket was purchased that is valued at $50 million. Originally won on April 18, 2015, the ticket has yet to be claimed, in fact it still shows up as “pending” on the Powerball’s official website. In most states, winning tickets are good to be claimed to up to a year by the win date, so the ticket is still of value until April 18, 2016, but it will be of no use after this date.

There may be many reasons why the ticket has yet to be claimed, which include chances of it being lost, or that the lottery win is unknown to the purchaser. Either way, the Powerball increases in value, and the ticket is more than likely still around the Puerto Rico area.

The winning numbers of April 18, 2015 were 13-22-23-29-31, and the Powerball number was 17. The week before a jackpot was also won, but that time the ticket was claimed. The total for April 11, 2015 Jackpot was about $80 million, in which it was won by Alice Dawson in Florida. The amount chosen was cash instead of annuity, in which the cash value was about $53 million. The winning numbers for that draw were 01-12-32-42-58, and the actual Powerball lotto number was 12.