And I've seen other jackpots when we've had 95 percent of the combinations covered and it rolls,' Grief said. 'I've been in the industry over 20 years, and I've seen jackpots hit when we hardly have any of the potential numbers covered - like 5 percent of the possible combinations covered.
About 95 percent of Powerball tickets have computer-generated numbers. Seventy-five percent of all the possible combinations were purchased before Saturday's drawing, Grief said, and he expects that enough tickets will be sold to cover about 80 percent by Wednesday. The odds to win are one in 292.2 million. 'We've never been at these levels,' said Grief, whose state lottery is part of the Multi-State Lottery Association that runs Powerball. Texas Lottery tweeted early Sunday that the cash value of the next jackpot will be $806 million. And that is all but certain to grow before the next drawing Wednesday, according to Texas Lottery spokeswoman Kelly Cripe. No one matched all six Powerball numbers Saturday night, leading to the astronomical prize.
