newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It looks like the sky’s the limit for the Powerball lottery jackpot. This past Saturday night became the 11th straight drawing the game has seen without a jackpot winner.

That means Wednesday's drawing will rise to an estimated $173 million, and the cash option payout will be $105 million. The last time the Powerball jackpot reached that high was on August 10, 2011, when one winner took $228.9 million.

Lottery Post reports that nine tickets matched the first five numbers without the Powerball to win the $200,000 second-place prize. None of them came from New Jersey.

POWERBALL WINNING NUMBERS FOR WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26, 2011

(click here)

If you manage to have that stroke of good fortune in winning a jackpot such as $173 million, history has proven that it is always best to exercise responsibility to avoid a potential physical stroke. On Christmas Day 2002, karemar.com reported that Jack Whittaker, Jr. bought a Powerball Ticket that won a jackpot worth $315 million, the highest ever in the United States at that time.

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Whittaker chose the cash option payoff, worth $113.4 million. Through lawsuits, strip clubs, and personal problems, Whittaker proceeded to lose $114 million in four years. He says he is struggling financially, and states that no amount of money lent to friends and family was ever enough and his experiences with the lottery ruined his life.