It may a little while before spring fever sets in, but Delawareans may come down with a case of Powerball fever this week.
Wednesday’s estimated Powerball jackpot has jumped to $400 million, the fourth biggest payoff in the game’s history and sixth largest ever in the United States.
It’s the latest in a string of huge jackpots in recent years. Nearly half of the top 10 Powerball jackpots of all-time have come since Powerball increased its ticket price from $1 to $2 in 2012, allowing the prize to grow bigger, faster.
Delaware Lottery Director Vernon Kirk says the bigger payoffs are attracting more players.
"It really generates a lot of excitement and it really helps our sales too of course," said Kirk. "People like to play jackpot games when the jackpot gets really high and 400 million counts as really high these days.
The lump sum payout on a winning ticket Wednesday night is nearly $227.8 million, which ranks eighth all-time in the U.S..
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175 million, and Kirk notes those odds don’t change, regardless of how many tickets are bought.
"Play with your head and not your heart. It’s fun, it’s supposed to be entertainment. It’s fun to think about how much money you'll get and how you'll spend it and things like that, [but] it’s not an investment opportunity," said Kirk. "It only takes one ticket to win and we’ve had winners who literally told us that that’s the only ticket they bought."
There hasn’t been a Powerball winner since Christmas Day. If Wednesday's jackpot rolls over, officials say Saturday’s drawing will likely be in excess of 500 million dollars.
Between 1993 and 2012, there have been nine Powerball jackpot winners from Delaware.