The recent Powerball drawing was rather lackluster since there was no jackpot winner nor was there any winner for the $1 million. But Michigan did see five winners of $300 in the recent Powerball drawing.

However, on the bright side, this means the Powerball jackpot will rise in value and worth to $67 million. This means that the winner of the next week’s Powerball jackpot will get $46 million as a cash option.

The winning numbers that would have made someone win the jackpot were 14-16-23-50-53 with the red Powerball number marked 3. Had someone won and chosen the Power Play option then the number for that was 3

There was not even a single player to have matched the five Powerball white ball numbers in order to win $1 million.

This shouldn’t discourage players from playing as in the past huge jackpot amounts have been won after going without jackpot winners for weeks.

For instance this year someone won a huge Powerball Jackpot worth $731 million. The Powerball jackpot drawing had been going without a winner for quite a few weeks which is why it ended up accumulating this amount.

In February 2015 in North Carolina, a 26-year lady was one of three winners of a huge Powerball jackpot totally of $564 million. The chances of that happening were one in 175 million and that probability remains the same to date.

Well, in the US, only forty-four states have lotteries, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The other states exclude themselves for various reasons like religious objections, or in Nevada’s case the fact they already have other gambling agencies.

Lotteries are mostly government-run, and state officials use part of the proceeds towards funding things like education. Across the country, lottery sales totaled $70 billion for the year 2014.

So what happens if you actually win big in the lottery?

After signing your ticket make sure to get a photograph and a video of yourself with it. Then there is an official number you can call to identify yourself as the winner. However, you don’t need to hurry in coming forward to claim the prize. Depending on the lottery and the state you’re in, sometimes you have up to a year to claim the prize. In fact, financial advisors recommend that you wait.

Before you claim the prize there are a few things winners need to figure out. This could range from whether to go with the annuity price or the cash lump-sum to whether to stay anonymous. It could be something as simple as what to say to the press as well.

Another popular lottery game played apart from Powerball is the Mega Millions which is drawn on Tuesdays. Players better lookout for the winning numbers of the next Mega Million drawing since the jackpot is worth $220.