Powerball jackpot increases to about $1 billion, Virginia Lottery expects to sell thousands of tickets Saturday

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing has increased to about $1 billion, with the Virginia Lottery saying it expects to sell thousands of tickets that day.

The Powerball drawing will take place at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, with people able to buy tickets until 10 p.m. that day, according to the Virginia Lottery.

The Virginia Lottery said it estimates that Virginians will buy about $2.6 million worth of Powerball tickets on Saturday. It expects to sell tickets at a rate of more than 2,600 per minute during peak times across the state that day.

In the last drawing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, Virginia reportedly had a $2 million winner, a $1 million winner and three $50,000 winners.

The Virginia Lottery advises people not to throw away their ticket if they did not match all six winning numbers, as they can still win prizes by matching some of the winning numbers.

If one ticket matches all six winning numbers in Saturday’s drawing, that winner will have the choice of taking $1 billion in annual payments over 30 years, or a one-time cash option of $453.1 million. Both options are before taxes.

According to the Virginia Lottery, any tickets bought after the 10 p.m. deadline on Saturday will be used for the next drawing on Monday, Sept. 1.

The profit from every Powerball ticket bought in Virginia, by law, goes to K-12 public education in Virginia. All Virginia Lottery profits benefit K-12 education in the Commonwealth.