Record $100 Million Jackpot on Offer in Australia Powerball
Lottery players across Australia are dreaming of creating history on Thursday 17th January after the Powerball jackpot rolled over yet again to a record-equalling $100 million. It is the second time the top prize has reached nine figures in the space of six months and ticket sales are expected to reach unprecedented levels ahead of the draw.
Delay in Results from Latest Draw
The Powerball jackpot was last won on 15th November and has been rolling over ever since. The latest draw on 10th January, for $80 million, saw so many players enter that the results were delayed by around two and a half hours. The draws normally take place at 8:30pm, with results published online by 9pm, but they weren’t available until nearly 11pm. There were over 2.4 million winners on the night, with 15 ticket holders matching the seven main numbers but just missing out on the eight-figure jackpot after failing to match the Powerball.
Matt Hart, a spokesperson for The Lott, explained: “Due to the large volume of entries from across Australia in tonight’s $80 million Powerball draw, the regular process of validating every entry has taken a little longer than usual. Under regulations, every single entry has to be validated in the system before the draw can take place. This is to ensure the integrity of the game and fairness to players. We apologise for the delay.”
Record Nine-Figure Jackpot Up for Grabs
One in three Australians entered the draw for $80 million, and ticket sales are expected to increase even further ahead of the $100 million draw as lottery fever grips the nation for one of the biggest draws in the game’s 23-year history.
The jackpot has only reached the $100 million mark twice since the Australian lottery began. A $100 million Powerball jackpot was split between two lucky winners in 2018, and a Lotto jackpot worth $112 million was shared between four ticket holders in 2012. The biggest prize ever won on a single ticket in Australia was worth $70 million, claimed by a couple from Hervey Bay in January 2016, so the current jackpot could eclipse this long-standing record.
Hart continued: “It's the start of 2019 and everyone is dreaming about what they might do with a massive Powerball prize. As a result, we're expecting queues out the door in lottery outlets across the nation. While we hope that next week is the week these lottery records are broken, it's hard to know just how high the jackpot will go if the Powerball winning numbers don't come up for Australian lottery players.”
You can enter from any licensed retailer throughout Australia, and also play online from various locations around the world, so choose your numbers today to be in with a chance of creating Powerball history. Best of luck!