The jackpot for the Saturday night drawing of Powerball, the newest game from the California Lottery, has reached an estimated $600 million, lottery officials said Friday.
With the introduction of Powerball to the state on April 8th, California became the 43rd state to to sell tickets.
In the history of Powerball, the highest previous jackpot reached $587.5 million. According to the CA Lottery, the Powerball jackpot could get even higher before the drawing. Just a year ago, the Mega Millions jackpot reached $656 million.
On May 4, Hollywood tour bus operator Sonny Alexander won $917,856 on a Powerball ticket he bought at Shelly Café, 7013 Hollywood Blvd., according to lottery officials.
Two tickets in the May 4 Powerball draw had five winning numbers of 26, 36, 40, 7, and 12, but missed the Powerball number 17. That meant Alexander and the other winner split the prize of $1,835,712, lottery officials said.
"I am going to buy a church," Alexander told lottery officials. "I have been praying to God to get money to buy a Greek Orthodox Church."
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