& BILLINGS - It may be time to find out how your luck is. The Montana Lottery Powerball jackpot is now up to $250 million. &

"I don't have any lucky numbers, I just pick what comes, hopefully that works," says one lottery ticket buyer.

For everyone playing Wednesday's Powerball Jackpot, it's double your money down. The $250 million up for grabs comes a few weeks after the price for a single Powerball ticket doubled from $1.00 to $2.00.

"It's still pretty early on but we believe the high jackpot number now may be an early indicator that our goal of seeing higher jackpots growing faster is working," says Daniel Iverson with the Montana Lottery.

The increase in price came as a decision from the 44 states involved in Powerball Lotto. Lottery officials say by raising the ticket cost and bettering the odds of winning, they hope to draw more people in to play, and in turn a higher jackpot.

More ticket sales would also mean more money back into Montana. "When you take our sales, then take away the retail commissions and prizes, the amount that is left is what is transferred to the general fund," says Iverson.

From the general fund, lottery revenue is then dispersed by the Montana legislature into education, health and public safety programs. Over the past few years, the state has received around $11 million annually from the lotto, nearly 40% of that coming from Powerball sales alone.

Raising ticket prices has so far not negatively affected ticket sales, instead numbers are up about 40% from this time last year, according to Montana Lottery officials. Meanwhile the dream to win big, also remains high.

If no one wins Wednesday, the jackpot could hit $300 million for Saturday's drawing, the highest in nearly five years.

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