A Powerball Win Would Be a Dandy Gift

Somewhere in a Christmas stocking or holiday card could be a lottery ticket worth nearly $300 million.

The multistate Powerball lottery drawing is on Christmas, and with no winner Saturday, the prize is rising to what is expected to be its third-largest jackpot and largest Christmas jackpot since it started in 1992.

Figuring deductions for a lump-sum cash option and taxes, a single winner would receive about $92 million -- enough to buy about 4.6 million Rapunzel Barbie dolls.

The jackpot amounts are driven by ticket sales, so it’s impossible to predict exactly how much the jackpot will be by Christmas, said Nebraska Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey. But from Wednesday to Saturday, the pot grew by $54.5 million to $217.8 million -- nearly $3 million more than expected.

“It would certainly make for a jolly Christmas,” Rockey said. “Usually during the holidays, we see sort of a drop-off in sales because people are off their normal routines.”

But this holiday season, the chance at millions and a flood of ad campaigns in several states could boost sales.

Nebraska lottery officials are promising buyers a complimentary holiday card and envelope if they spend $10 or more on tickets. In Pennsylvania, which joined Powerball in June, holiday-themed television commercials with singer Ray Charles promote the lottery.

The highest Powerball jackpot was $295.7 million, won July 29, 1998, by group in Ohio.

If a winning ticket is drawn Dec. 25, it would not be the first Christmas jackpot. In 1996, Hugh and Janice Robinson of Hailey, Idaho, were the winners of a $48.3-million Powerball jackpot drawn on Christmas Day.