Powerball: Powerball lottery jackpot raised to $155 millionEven though the grand prize was not hit Wednesday evening, a total of 746,524 players across the nation won more than $8.7 million in prizes playing "America's Game".
The jackpot for the Saturday, July 29th drawing will be $155 million with the cash option at $70.7 million.
The numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 5, 10, 17, 24, 43, and the Powerball was 31. The Power Play multiplier was 4.
Two tickets sold in North Carolina won $800,000 each with the Power Play option. In addition, five other lucky tickets won $200,000 for matching 5 white ball numbers in the states of Indiana (1), Minnesota (2), Missouri (1), and Oklahoma (1).
Forty-six tickets matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Nine additional players of that prize level purchased the Power Play and had their prize multiplied by 4 for a $40,000 cash win.
More than 122,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 4 Wednesday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for $1. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings from 2-5 times, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.
Players should carefully check their tickets after every draw. Even if there are no jackpot winners there are always tens of thousands of winners at other prize levels.
Players purchased more than $31.2 million in tickets between Sunday and Wednesday night.
The lotteries sold $2.8 billion in Powerball tickets in fiscal year 2006. That translates into over $800 million for worthwhile state projects.
