One night after the second-biggest lottery drawing in world history, Powerball officials drew numbers Wednesday for an overshadowed but still lucrative contest.
The estimated $602.5 million jackpot for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing will be the sixth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The winning numbers were 56-53-45-21-3, with the red Powerball being 22.
If taken as a lump sum, as most recent big lottery winners have chosen to do, Wednesday’s jackpot in the twice-weekly game would be worth $354 million, with federal taxes quickly taking almost 40 percent of that amount and state taxes a possibility on top of that.
The $2 Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, along with the District of Columbia and some U.S. territories.
The $1.536 billion MegaMillions drawing Tuesday had one winner, a ticket purchased in Simpsonville, South Carolina. The chances of winning Powerball are slightly higher than with MegaMillions, at 1 in 292.2 million, versus 1 in 302.5 million.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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