Planning to buy a ticket for Monday night's estimated $1.1 billion Powerball drawing but haven't done so yet?
The clock is ticking.
The cutoff time to purchase a ticket in Illinois is 9 p.m., so lottery hopefuls don't have much time left. The drawing itself is at 10 p.m.
No one has matched all six numbers since May 31, allowing the jackpot to swell to $1.1 billion, which would be the fifth-largest prize in the game’s history. Payments would be spread over 30 years, or a winner could choose an immediate lump sum of an estimated $498.4 million, again before taxes.
The odds of matching all six numbers are astronomical: 1 in 292.2 million. The likelihood of getting struck by lightning is far greater. But with so many people putting down money for a chance at life-changing wealth, som