Jackpot

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.

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.

The winning numbers for last night's Mega Millions jackpot were 9, 19, 34, 44, 51 and the Mega Ball was 24. Finished checking your tickets now? No one matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball, so Friday night's drawing will be worth an estimated $500 million. The value of the cash option for Friday's drawing is $359 million. Both prize amounts are records for lottery jackpots in the United States. The jackpot for Friday's drawing was initially listed at $476 million, with a cash option of $341 million, but both numbers were increased Wednesday afternoon.

The jackpot in tomorrow night's drawing of the Maryland Lotto game has been increased to $7 million after Wednesday's drawing failed to produce a winner.The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 6, 13, 16, 23, 25, 35.

The jackpot in tomorrow's Maryland Lotto drawing has been increased to $1.5 million after Wednesday night's drawing failed to produce a winner. The Lotto numbers drawn Wednesday night were 01, 10, 15, 29, 34, 38. Lottery spokeswoman Theresa Gutierrez said 32 people correctly matched five of the six winning numbers; they are to collect $910 each. Another 1,394 players matched four of the six numbers drawn Wednesday night. Each of their tickets is worth $36. Lotto sales for the drawing totaled $727,904 .

This week's Lotto jackpot will be worth $6 million, since, for the second week in a row, no player matched all six winning numbers in Saturday night's drawing, a lottery spokesman said.Eighty-six players won $1,009 each for picking five of six winning numbers, said Carroll H. Hynson Jr., the spokesman, and 4,176 won $35 each for matching four of the six numbers.The winning numbers in Saturday's drawing were 3, 5, 19, 29, 33 and 46.

The jackpot in tomorrow's twice-weekly Maryland Lotto drawing has been increased to $7 million after Wednesday night's drawing failed to produce a winner.The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 2, 21, 33, 34, 35, 45.Lottery spokeswoman Theresa Gutierrez said 3 people correctly matched five of the six winning numbers and each stands to collect $1,313.Another ,922 bettors matched four of the six numbers drawn Wednesday night. Each of their tickets is worth $8.Lotto sales for the Wednesday drawing totaled $,082,395.

THERE'S been nothing like it in Maryland: A $160 million lottery jackpot that has people clamoring for Big Game tickets from lottery vendors. Expect long lines if you wait too late to buy your tickets before tonight's 11 p.m. drawing.Chances are very strong that someone tonight will win this jackpot -- $6.1 million annually for 26 years, or $84.5 million in cash. Lottery officials predict that only 10 percent of the Big Game combinations will be left unplayed by drawing time. That's more incentive for people to take a chance, despite the 76 million to 1 odds.

Once the engine of Maryland's lottery, Classic Lotto is sputtering as players choose to spend their money on other lottery games. Lottery officials say they are trying to find ways to revive interest in Lotto, a game in which players pick six numbers from among 49 for a chance to win at least $1 million. If no one wins, the jackpot rolls over and builds. Lotto reached the highest jackpot level in its 18-year history last week - $24 million - but even that failed to generate much excitement among players.