Winning Powerball Numbers for 5/7/16

with MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

Powerball players lined up across the country, snatching up their chance (or chances) for a piece of $429.6 million.

The winning Powerball numbers for May 7, 2016:

• 5-25-26-44-66 and Powerball is 9

The cash payout for the winning ticket Saturday would be more than $270 million.

If there's no winner, we'll be the record payout we saw in January, but it's moving in that direction. On Jan. 2, the jackpot was $355 million. And it was just three drawings later that the jackpot climbed to its record finish on Jan. 13.

Click here to find out where to play.

The Powerball jackpot reached $1.6 billion, the highest it's ever been. There ended up being three winners, from California, Tennessee and Florida.

So how does Powerball work? Tickets are sold for $2 in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The jackpot starts at $40 million and increases after each drawing if there isn't a winner.

Players pick five numbers from one to 69 and a sixth Powerball number, one through 26. (Most people just choose to get random numbers.) There are various levels of payouts, but to win the ultimate jackpot, you have to match all five numbers plus the Powerball.

The odds of that happening? Just 1 in 292,201,338. In other words, don't cash out your kids' college fund to buy tickets.

A winner can pick two ways to claim their prize. The first is an annuity that is paid out 30 times over 29 years. The second is an immediate cash payout that is available immediately but is significantly less money than the total jackpot.

So, what if you only match a few numbers, what do you win? Here’s the deal:

• Match 5 numbers and the Powerball number = Jackpot
• Match 5 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $1 million dollars
• Match 4 numbers and the Powerball number = $50,000
• Match 4 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $100
• Match 3 numbers and the Powerball number = $100
• Match 3 numbers, not including the Powerball number = $7
• Match 2 numbers and the Powerball number = $7
• Match 1 number and the Powerball number = $4
• Match only the Powerball number = $4