Powerball jackpot world’s largest at $1.3 billion

It’s the brain chemical associated with reward, pleasure and addiction.

No jackpot-winning tickets were sold for Saturday night’s drawing, and the jackpot now stands at a record $1.3 billion.

California normally sees Powerball sales of $1 million a day, but on Saturday morning sales were $2.8 million an hour, said California Lottery spokesman Mike Bond. More than $2.4 billion has been provided to these programs since 1999.

The Colorado Lottery acknowledged the problem in a set of tweets Sunday, noting at one point that “we’re going to have to get creative!”

A ticket qualifies for a $1 million prize if it matches the five white balls without the red Powerball. The excitement is only expected to grow ahead of the next drawing.

Fourteen Powerball players in 14 states won $1 million each by correctly having the five numbers without the Powerball.

Cripe says 75 percent of all combinations have been bought.

The Powerball jackpot has been growing since November 7.

The winning numbers drawn Saturday night were 16, 19, 32, 34 and 57, with a Powerball of 13.

Pennsylvania had one $1 million victor, seven winners of $150,000, and numerous $50,000 winners. With the potential pool of money so high, Chaput, of Northampton, said, “Why not buy a ticket or two?” Collins said it was a shock that nobody won.

But one person in Stockton has hit it big in the in-state Super Lotto Plus jackpot game.

It doesn’t take a neuroscientist like Howard Fields to explain how people may be ignoring probability because of the way the brain processes risk and reward.

“It would put LeBron James to shame it’s unbelievable”, Doering said.

But, Fields added, the brain tends to overestimate the possibility of reward.

” Don’t feel bad… think about helping someone else, said Dr. Caroline Nord, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga”.

There are three new millionaires thanks to the Michigan Lottery’s Powerball game.

In North Carolina, 76-cents goes to education funding for every ticket sold. And once people decide to play, they often spend more than they anticipated. But they’re coming. When the lady won the fifty thousand dollars she came back to tell me. “We want to remind everyone to play responsibly, be patient and considerate while waiting to get your tickets, and enjoy the fun and enthusiasm of this billion dollar jackpot”.

Associated Press writers Terry Tang in Phoenix and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.