BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The 11th consecutive Powerball lottery drawing took place Wednesday night without a grand prize winner, which means the giant jackpot will take yet another leap forward on Saturday.

Since there was no winner of the Powerball jackpot on May 8, the annuity prize for the game of Saturday May 11 will be $270 million, and the lump sum payout is an estimated $175.8 million.

According to the Powerball web site, the winning numbers for the game of May 8 were 21, 22, 26, 30, and 57, and the Powerball was 27. Lottery Post reported that four tickets had the first five numbers without matching the Powerball, and one of them was from New Jersey.

That ticket won $1 million. The Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for Saturday now jumps $48 million from Wednesday’s mark of $222 million, while the cash option value went up $31.3 million.

Philly.com points out that this current Powerball run is the third time the grand prize has topped $200 million in 2013. Seven Powerball jackpots gone above $200 million since May 2012, including the record Powerball annuity of $587 million, and two others that cleared $300 million.

The game’s increased sales have come from more states joining the game, and the minimum jackpot jumping to $40 million since 2009, philly.com reports. Also adding to available revenue are ticket costs being increased to $2, minimum jackpot increases rising to $10 million, and secondary prizes going from $200,000 to at least $1 million.