Jackpot

Nobody won Saturday's $325 million Powerball jackpot Saturday night, setting up a $425 million-plus jackpot for Wednesday night's drawing that has even casual lottery players ready to take the plunge. "I only play when it gets big," Linthicum's Charlie Morlock said Sunday afternoon, hot off plunking down $20 for Powerball tickets at his local Royal Farms store. This was, he noted, the first time he'd played the lottery this year. Lottery officials said Wednesday's drawing could soar beyond $425 million, depending on how many people cough up the $2 necessary to play.

Strong Powerball ticket sales since a Wednesday night drawing with no big winner has further padded an already swollen jackpot, lottery officials said Thursday afternoon. It now stands at $550 million, with the cash option moving up to $350.1 million, officials said. The next drawing will be held on Saturday. Prior to the strong Thursday sales, the lack of a winner on Wednesday night had left the pot at $475 million, with a $302.4 million cash payout. Wednesday's five white winning numbers were 2, 11, 26, 34 and 41, with 32 as the red bonus number.

Maryland lottery officials were inundated Monday with nonstop calls fueled by rumors about the identity of the Baltimore County shopper who will share in the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot. "Everyone says they know who the winner is," said lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett. "It's their cousin. It's a person who works at their doctor's office. It's the guy up the street who mows the lawn. We're not going to chase gossip. " Lottery officials say they've heard about 15 tall tales associated with the identity of the person who bought the winning ticket for Friday's drawing at a 7-Eleven in Milford Mill.

No one has won the Powerball jackpot since February so there is a roll over jackpot of $320 million up for grabs. The unofficial winning numbers drawn Saturday night were 17, 29, 31, 52 and 53. The Powerball was 31. Drawing results are pending. Meanwhile a winning ticket for last weekend's draw worth $1 million that was sold at the Thunderhead Bowl and Grill in Taneytown is still floating around. Lottery officials say winners have 182 days to come forward to claim their prize. Another $1 million ticket was sold last week at a Dundalk Giant and has since been turned in. iduncan@baltsun.com twitter.com/iduncan

Maryland sold one of the winning tickets for last night's record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said. The lucky ticket was purchased around 7:15 p.m. Friday at a 7-Eleven in Baltimore County in the 8000 block of Liberty Road in Milford Mill. The winner bought one ticket with randomly selected numbers just a few hours before sales ended. The jackpot is considered the single largest in world history, according to lottery officials. The Maryland winner will split the prize with winners in Kansas and Illinois, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Are you rich beyond your wildest dreams? The winning numbers for the $640 million Mega Millions jackpot are: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Mega Ball 23. If no winner is named, the jackpot will rise to $975 million, but lottery officials said they would know if someone had won before the night is through. All week, Baltimore has been abuzz about the record-breaking jackpot and on Friday the excitement peaked. On his way out the door at the 7-Eleven on W. 33 r d Street and Keswick Road on Friday, a man looked over his shoulder and told Sara Mathes that he'd wish her luck on Mega Millions, but, you know, "I want to win. " Mathes of Charles Village and her friend, Jessica Vezendy of Middletown, Del., were part of the frenzy across Maryland for a chance at the $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, which grew by $100 million since Thursday.

The public fascination with who won the record $587.5 million Powerball jackpot turned to Maryland on Friday, as reports surfaced that a customer at an Upper Marlboro gas station claimed he had the coveted winning ticket. Negassi Ghebre, acting manager of the Marlboro Village Exxon, said he was manning the cash register when the man walked in Thursday afternoon to check lottery tickets he had bought. "We gave him the winning numbers, then he matched them," Ghebre said. "He realized that he's the winner.

Saturday's Powerball jackpot has rolled up to $214 million after a $50 million Delaware winner in early October. The last Maryland winner of the Powerball jackpot was a Cecil county couple who won $128.8 million on Christmas eve. That was the second-largest winning ticket ever sold in the state, according to the lottery. The first Powerball win in Maryland was by an Abingdon couple in September, 2011. They claimed $108.8 million. The winners of all those big payouts have remained anonymous, according to the lottery website.

The jackpot for the multistate Powerball lottery has grown to $325 million, after another drawing passed Wednesday night with no big winner. The next numbers will be drawn Saturday night. The jackpot prize has a cash value of about $212.8 million, and the odds of winning the big prize are one in 175,223,510. Maryland is one of 42 states, along with the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Powerball tickets are sold. The first big Powerball prize in the state was claimed last September by an Abingdon couple who won $108.8 million.

A Mount Airy woman won a $26 million Mega Millions jackpot this week, state lottery officials announced, and the grandmother of two now plans to buy her first home - a beach house. Maryland Lottery officials said the 48-year-old woman wished to remain anonymous. She is the first to win a Mega Millions jackpot in nearly a year, since three Maryland public school employees split the $218.6 million portion of a record-breaking $656 million jackpot. According to the state lottery, the woman's fiancee jokingly told her as they went to bed Tuesday night that they would wake up millionaires.

Sunday night's big victory by the Washington Redskins over the Dallas Cowboys set a record for NBC prime time TV -- and that's saying something for the No. 1 show on television. The ratings jackpot is well-deserved. The Redskins played a gutty, emotional and smart game with their stars going all out and leaving everything on the field. And NBC's peerless broadcast team delivered another gem of a telecast. The work of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth in the booth Sunday night was the match of any team in the history of NFL television.

The public fascination with who won the record $587.5 million Powerball jackpot turned to Maryland on Friday, as reports surfaced that a customer at an Upper Marlboro gas station claimed he had the coveted winning ticket. Negassi Ghebre, acting manager of the Marlboro Village Exxon, said he was manning the cash register when the man walked in Thursday afternoon to check lottery tickets he had bought. "We gave him the winning numbers, then he matched them," Ghebre said. "He realized that he's the winner.

Charrlene Cebrianwarned her boss at Steve's Lunch in Cross Street Market on Wednesday that she might not come into work for her next shift. The Powerball player was just one of millions who hoped the 11 p.m. drawing would bring them the $588 million jackpot. Though the odds of winning were astronomical - one in more than 175 million - the money convinced many to join in. The hefty jackpot jumped almost $200 million Wednesday with the increase in sales as more players bought the small sheets of paper bearing what they hoped would be the winning numbers, which turned out to be 05 16 22 23 29 with a Powerball of 06. Winning tickets were purchased in Arizona and Missouri, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.

Nobody won Saturday's $325 million Powerball jackpot Saturday night, setting up a $425 million-plus jackpot for Wednesday night's drawing that has even casual lottery players ready to take the plunge. "I only play when it gets big," Linthicum's Charlie Morlock said Sunday afternoon, hot off plunking down $20 for Powerball tickets at his local Royal Farms store. This was, he noted, the first time he'd played the lottery this year. Lottery officials said Wednesday's drawing could soar beyond $425 million, depending on how many people cough up the $2 necessary to play.

The jackpot for the multistate Powerball lottery has grown to $325 million, after another drawing passed Wednesday night with no big winner. The next numbers will be drawn Saturday night. The jackpot prize has a cash value of about $212.8 million, and the odds of winning the big prize are one in 175,223,510. Maryland is one of 42 states, along with the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Powerball tickets are sold. The first big Powerball prize in the state was claimed last September by an Abingdon couple who won $108.8 million.

The Powerball jackpot reached an estimated $250 million, after no winner emerged from Saturday night's drawing. The cash value is $166.8 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. The game is played in 42 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Virgin Islands. The most recent big winner in Maryland was a couple who bought the winning $128.8 million at a family-owned restaurant and liquor store in Cecil County last Christmas Eve. That was the second-largest winning ticket ever sold in the state, according to the lottery.

Saturday's Powerball jackpot has rolled up to $214 million after a $50 million Delaware winner in early October. The last Maryland winner of the Powerball jackpot was a Cecil county couple who won $128.8 million on Christmas eve. That was the second-largest winning ticket ever sold in the state, according to the lottery. The first Powerball win in Maryland was by an Abingdon couple in September, 2011. They claimed $108.8 million. The winners of all those big payouts have remained anonymous, according to the lottery website.