The jackpot is $1.5 billion! You can also participate with Bitcoin

The US Powerball jackpot has been vacant since November 4 last year. Up to now, the Powerball jackpot has reached a huge amount of 1.5 billion US dollars. Officials of the US Multi-State Lottery Association said that this amount can be said to be the highest jackpot since the global lottery was issued.

Now, mobile lottery app JackPocket has officially integrated Bitcoin payment into its product, allowing users to use Bitcoin to purchase Powerball lottery tickets, giving players a chance to win tonight’s $1.5 billion jackpot.

The JackPocket mobile app, launched in 2015, allows New York residents to purchase Powerball, Mega Millions and three New York State lotteries.

JackPocket CEO Peter Sullivan said in a blog post that the move is part of the startup’s mission to reduce friction in the lottery ticket purchasing process, and he also said the team is very bullish on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Sullivan wrote:

“JackPocket’s goal is to create a more efficient lottery platform… and leveraging Bitcoin is a step in the right direction to achieve that goal.”

Additionally, the CEO hinted that the move could attract more affluent or tech-savvy consumers to buy lottery tickets, while positioning the startup to take advantage of micropayments, a long-debated but still developing application of bitcoin technology.

JackPocket scans a copy of the actual lottery ticket for you, and the order is created by a JackPocket employee. If you win more than $600, you must turn in the ticket to get your prize.

Notably, Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group is an investor in the company.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is now a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/tickets-1-5-billion-powerball-jackpot-bitcoin/
By Pete Rizzo
Translation: Overnight porridge
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/1-5-billion-powerball)