Your Losing Norristown Powerball Ticket Could Be A Winner

By JUSTIN HEINZE and GREG HAMBRICK

With no winners of Saturday night’s $949.8 million Powerball drawing, jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is now up to an almost unthinkable $1.3 billion, the record for the largest lottery payout in U.S. history.

Saturday’s Powerball winning numbers were 32, 16, 19, 57, 34 with a Powerball number of 13.

A statistics professor at Metropolitan State University in Colorado calculates the odds of winning the drawing at about 1 in 292.2 million.

So, what if you only match a few numbers, what do you win? Here’s the deal:

• Match 5 numbers and the Powerball number = Jackpot
• Match 5 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $1 million dollars
• Match 4 numbers and the Powerball number = $10,000
• Match 4 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $100
• Match 3 numbers and the Powerball number = $100
• Match 3 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $7
• Match 2 numbers and the Powerball number = $7
• Match 1 number and the Powerball number = $4
• Match only the Powerball number = $4

Looking for tips to increase your odds of winning Powerball? Ditch birth dates or other milestones — balls are numbered up to 69 and calendar dates are at the extreme low end of the spectrum. Also, play with friends or co-workers.

So what should you do if you win the lottery? Alexa von Tobel, CEO of the online financial planning website LearnVest, offered a few tips to Patch from a financial planning standpoint.

Sign the ticket: The most important step ensures you claim the ticket as your own.

Maintain anonymity: In many states, von Tobel says, you have a whole year to claim the prize.

Assemble a financial planning team: “You must decide whether including whether to take a lump sum or an annuity,” she said. “There are many pros and cons to weigh: including estate taxes, how much money you’ll ultimately make, whether you’ll be able to handle it all at once, etc.”

Wait six months before making any major decisions: “It’s all too easy to blow through those millions,” von Tobel said. “In fact, according to a 2015 study by the Camelot Group, 44 percent of winners spend their entire winnings within five years.”

To find out where to buy your ticket locally, see here.