Over $200 million, jackpot's days are numbered

Next time could be the time.

Three times before this year, the Powerball jackpot topped $200 million, and each time it got that high it got hit.

Tuesday night, no one matched every number, so Saturday's grand prize will be worth $203 million for the annuity, $123 million for the cash.

So is now the time to buy?

The jackpot could keep growing, of course. Historically, a dozen have topped $300 million, including two in Mega Millions this year.

Also, frankly, the odds still stink - 1 in 192 million of a single ticket winning.

But if you're going to risk a buck, why not while the jackpot's gigantic, players tend to figure. So, the bigger the prize, the faster tickets sell, making a winner increasingly likely.

A Colorado ticket hit for $1 million Tuesday night by matching the first five numbers - 1, 18, 21, 39 and 55 - while having the Power Play multiplier option. It missed only the Powerball, which came up 6.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey each sold one of seven tickets worth $200,000 for matching the first five numbers.

The others were purchased in New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida and Texas.

Easton ticket wins $200,000 in Mega Millions. The jackpot rose to $67 million for Friday's drawing, because no one hit all the numbers drawn last night - 13, 33, 40, 44 and 46, with a Mega Ball of 8. A ticket sold at a Giant Food Store on Town Center Boulevard in Easton, Pa., won $250,000 for matching the first five. Three California tickets and two in New York also matched that many.

Wilkes-Barre ticket wins $4.2 million in Match 6 Lotto. A ticket sold at the Anthracite Newsstand, 1 E. Market St., matched all the numbers drawn in Monday's drawing: 2, 5, 10, 13, 28 and 48.

For more on lotteries, go to www.palottery.com, www.lottery.nj.us, or www.philly.com/philly/news/lottery.