The U.S. Powerball jackpot swelled to $320 million on Thursday, the 15th largest prize in the history of the multistate drawing that will pick another winning number on Saturday night, lottery officials said.
The jackpot has rolled over twice per week since someone matched all six numbers on Sept. 17. The odds of winning are 1 in 292 million.
Powerball is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Players can either buy $2 tickets using their own numbers or have them randomly generated by a computer.
The next drawing is scheduled for 11 p.m. EST on Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday) and the winner would receive $320 million over 30 years or $202 million in a lump-sum payment, before taxes.
The largest ever lottery prize of $1.6 billion was split between three winning tickets in January.
It is one of several games run by the Multi-State Lottery Association, a non-profit owned and operated by member lotteries.
The Mega Millions lottery, also offered by the association, produced the nation's second-largest prize, worth $656 million, in a 2012 drawing.
For every $1 worth of Powerball sales, half goes to prizes, 40 percent to state governments for causes such as education, and 10 percent to retailers who sell the tickets and other administrative costs.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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