BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô The Powerball jackpot is now an estimated $360,000,000 for Saturday night's draw and the Idaho Lottery is encouraging every participant to play responsibly.

"When there is this much excitement for a game, we want to remind everyone to only play what they can afford, not to go overboard," said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director and national Powerball Game Group Chair. "It does only take one ticket to win."

"A huge part of the entertainment value comes from imagining what you could do by winning this jackpot," said Anderson. "Playing a couple of dollars for the chance to win certainly brings a lot of enthusiasm from players."

"When jackpots are really huge, the number of players in the game expands, with many players joining together buying tickets for their chance to become Powerball's next big winner," added Anderson.

Last night's draw produced 8,879 winning tickets in Idaho for a total of $49,720 in prizes. There was no nationwide jackpot winner. The Powerball jackpot is now the seventh largest in this game's history. This Powerball jackpot has been steadily growing since it was last won on November 29, 2014 in neighboring Washington.

As the weekend draws closer, some retail locations may experience higher than normal volumes of player traffic. Players are advised to plan ahead as there may be lines to purchase tickets.

Players have until 7:55 p.m. MT on Saturday evening to purchase a ticket to participate in this Powerball draw.

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ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY
The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Mega Millions, Scratch GamesTM, and PullTabs with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividend for Idaho public schools and the permanent building fund. Since their inception in 1989, the Idaho Lottery has sold over $2.7 billion in products, awarded over $1.6 billion in prizes to players, returned more than $160 million in retail commissions, and distributed $649.5 million in Lottery dividends to Idaho public schools and the Permanent Building Fund. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.