Powerball Saturday Jackpot: Not $2 Billion, But ...

Forty million dollars may seem like small change after Wednesday’s record Powerball jackpot of $1.5 billion, or not.

Who couldn’t use $40 million? After the frenzy of the past week and two record-setting jackpots, three tickets were sold that matched Wednesday’s ginormous payout.

SEE ALSO: Find a retailer in Maryland.

Ticket-holders in California, Florida and Tennessee will share the mega jackpot.

So the game starts over, with the Powerball jackpot for this Saturday estimated at $40 million. The cash payout option would still be enough to live on: $24.8 million.

SEE ALSO:

• 3 Winning Powerball Ticket for $1.5 Billion Sold, One in Chino Hills, CA
• Crowds Swarm Chino Hills Store That Sold Winning Powerball Ticket
• Wednesday’s Powerball Jackpot: 5 Things *Less* Likely Than Winning
• 5 People Who Won The Lottery And Blew It All
• Playing The Powerball With Co-Workers, Friends: What To Know

What Might Have Been

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot would have climbed to $2 billion, with a $1.24 Billion cash payout.

That would be more than a $1 billion increase in a week.

“It’s even crazier than last week,” New York state gaming commission spokeswoman Christy Calicchia told Patch Wednesday afternoon.

How many Powerball tickets were sold?

An email to national Powerball media relations seeking sales information was not immediately returned.

The respected data analytics website FiveThirtyEight estimated that 1.008 billion total Powerball tickets were sold for Wednesday’s jackpot.

The website says that for a typical $40 to $50 million Powerball pot, about 10 million tickets are sold.

Let the games begin.