Powerball lottery jackpot climbs to $70 million

Oct 24, 2006, 11:15 am (19 comments)

Powerball

No one hit the Powerball jackpot Saturday, but 559,109 players across the nation won a total of more than $5.4 million in prizes in "America's Game".

Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $70 million.

The cash option for the Wednesday, October 25th drawing will be an estimated $32.6 million.

The numbers drawn Saturday were 9, 29, 31, 45, 55, and the Powerball was 7. The Power Play multiplier was 4.

Five tickets correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $200,000. These winning tickets were purchased in Oklahoma (1), Pennsylvania (1), and Tennessee (3).

Twenty-three tickets matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Seven additional winners at that prize level also had the Power Play option multiplying their winnings 4 times for a total of $40,000.

More than 112,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 4 Saturday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for one dollar. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings by 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 $22.3 million in tickets between Wednesday and Saturday night. The lotteries sold more than $2.8 billion in Powerball tickets in fiscal year 2006. That translates into approximately $800 million for worthwhile state projects.

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TheMaker's avatarTheMaker

Man, I wish I could get my hands on some of that PB. What states have Powerball any way? If I am not misstaken, Geoegia was one of them until it changed. Any help on this?

US Flag

CA LotteryGuy

TheMaker...to find out where Powerball is played, go to www.powerball.com.  Click on Where To Play in the upper left hand margin.  The two neighboring states to Georgia are South Carolina and Tennessee.

As far as Georgia having Powerball in the past, I'll have to leave that up to someone else to answer.

Todd's avatarTodd

Actually, a better site for Powerball (and Mega Millions) information is www.usamega.com.  It shows all the states, and even shows when they joined the game.  It also has jackpot analysis, so you can see what you would actually win in each state when you take out the taxes.

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by CA LotteryGuy on Oct 24, 2006

TheMaker...to find out where Powerball is played, go to www.powerball.com.  Click on Where To Play in the upper left hand margin.  The two neighboring states to Georgia are South Carolina and Tennessee.

As far as Georgia having Powerball in the past, I'll have to leave that up to someone else to answer.

Yes, Georgia was a Powerball state for a while. They dropped  a few years ago in favor of The Big Game, which was changed to Mega Millions.   

DD

TheMaker's avatarTheMaker

Thanks a lot guys but South Carolina and Tennessee is a little to far for me to be traveling to win a jackpot. I think I will stick with Mega Millions here in Ga.

dingo's avatardingo

Quote: Originally posted by TheMaker on Oct 24, 2006

Thanks a lot guys but South Carolina and Tennessee is a little to far for me to be traveling to win a jackpot. I think I will stick with Mega Millions here in Ga.

I live in California. There was 3 times I travelled Oregon to buy Powerball. The whole trip took me 12 hours by taking Interstate 5, and 16 hours by taking 101.

And now, I don't want to go there any more. Gas and time turn that idea down. I also stick with Mega Millions for now.

rdc137

If you want to stay in the game for awhile, go to North Carolina and buy a 52 drawing ticket. That's good for 6 months. The only problem with that is if you win anything on the first drawing you'd have to go back to NC to collect before the last drawing on the ticket because the prizes expire after 6 months. (Same is true for the FL Lotto)

guesser's avatarguesser

Quote: Originally posted by dingo on Oct 25, 2006

I live in California. There was 3 times I travelled Oregon to buy Powerball. The whole trip took me 12 hours by taking Interstate 5, and 16 hours by taking 101.

And now, I don't want to go there any more. Gas and time turn that idea down. I also stick with Mega Millions for now.

Or find someone you can trust to do the buying for you.

You need to send them money, and several SASE so they can send the tickets to you immediately upon purchase: they buy them, stick them in the envelope, and drop them in the nearest mailbox all in one shot on the way home from buying them.  

I'd recommend buying them in 4 or 6-drawing increments, you don't want to play too far ahead: if one of your numbers hits all by itself in like 3 of 4 games, chances are it will go somewhat 'cold' after that, and you won't want to play it for 20 straight games.  JMO

dingo's avatardingo

Quote: Originally posted by guesser on Oct 25, 2006

Or find someone you can trust to do the buying for you.

You need to send them money, and several SASE so they can send the tickets to you immediately upon purchase: they buy them, stick them in the envelope, and drop them in the nearest mailbox all in one shot on the way home from buying them.  

I'd recommend buying them in 4 or 6-drawing increments, you don't want to play too far ahead: if one of your numbers hits all by itself in like 3 of 4 games, chances are it will go somewhat 'cold' after that, and you won't want to play it for 20 straight games.  JMO

thanks for the tip, but they won't let people mail the lottery ticket through mail. It must be physically present in order to be legally purchasing the tickets.

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

Quote: Originally posted by TheMaker on Oct 24, 2006

Thanks a lot guys but South Carolina and Tennessee is a little to far for me to be traveling to win a jackpot. I think I will stick with Mega Millions here in Ga.


you shouldn't have to go to south carolina because it too is a megamillion state. you can get a ticket there for 26 drawings in a row but you don't need to go there because you have it right at home. 

i believe powerball is in tennessee and yes that is a long way depending where you live in georgia. i would go down to florida and get a 52 drawing ticket there. that i would do if i had the time and the money.  

 

love this because people are talking about powerball.  time to answer some more posts.

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

Quote: Originally posted by dingo on Oct 25, 2006

I live in California. There was 3 times I travelled Oregon to buy Powerball. The whole trip took me 12 hours by taking Interstate 5, and 16 hours by taking 101.

And now, I don't want to go there any more. Gas and time turn that idea down. I also stick with Mega Millions for now.


if you were going to drive all that distance for a powerball ticket i would head south. it is just as long BUT you can get a ticket  in arizonia for 10 drawings. you wouldn't have to be going back and forth every 2 weeks. i hate having to do that myself. i did that for several years before i got back out on the road. it takes 2.25 hours to drive from my house to the oregon line to get a powerball ticket.  so i get me a ticket from any state that i travel to that sells powerball tickets and i get the maximum number of drawings. 

if the pot gets to be 150 million maybe i would take a run up to there. when i wasn't traveling i would find people that were going somewhere on vacation or work and give them money to pick me up a ticket. you might want to think of that the next time someone is bragging about going back east or down to phoenix.

i wish i was playing a little more in cali but my last ticket expired sometime ago and i got my little winning check from them already. i mean little but i got back some.

onto the next pick 6 story. 

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

Quote: Originally posted by rdc137 on Oct 25, 2006

If you want to stay in the game for awhile, go to North Carolina and buy a 52 drawing ticket. That's good for 6 months. The only problem with that is if you win anything on the first drawing you'd have to go back to NC to collect before the last drawing on the ticket because the prizes expire after 6 months. (Same is true for the FL Lotto)


i love these comments about powerball and megamillion. just love it. 

well first of all you are wrong about north carolina. most states want you to play and they don't want a reputation for not paying winners. i win from different states all the time and mail my tickets to them all the time. i go online and see what their rules are for turing in tickets by mail and comply. in return i get a ticket in the mail for 2 or 3 dollars. never fail!!!

regarding north carolina and florida. i have a ticket for north carolina for 52 drawings and it is still good. i have not checked the ticket yet because i choose to let all the drawings go by before checking. if i were to be lucky enough to win on the first drawing and i don't check until the exiration of the ticket. you still have a few days of slop after the last drawing. plus all you have to do is get it postmarked before the 6 months and you will get your money. that is how florida does it. i had a 77 dollar winner on the second drawing. i knew when the last drawing for the 52 draw ticket was and checked. i got it post marked and i got my money from them no problems.

a suggestion for submitting tickets under 600 dollars (that is all i win sadly) is to make a copy of the ticket front and back on one page. then on the same page flip it and print your important information on that page. now make a copy of all this information so that you have to legible copies. one for you and one for them to read. the reason you put your information on the page is so they can read your info properly. cali has messed up my name before i started doing this and one lady in idaho sent me a scratch ticket for doing this so she could read my ticket.

so go to north carolina or florida on your next trip and get that multi drawing ticket for 52 drawings. plus remember me in case you win. 

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

Quote: Originally posted by guesser on Oct 25, 2006

Or find someone you can trust to do the buying for you.

You need to send them money, and several SASE so they can send the tickets to you immediately upon purchase: they buy them, stick them in the envelope, and drop them in the nearest mailbox all in one shot on the way home from buying them.  

I'd recommend buying them in 4 or 6-drawing increments, you don't want to play too far ahead: if one of your numbers hits all by itself in like 3 of 4 games, chances are it will go somewhat 'cold' after that, and you won't want to play it for 20 straight games.  JMO


i agree with someone you can trust but make that someone from your job and not in another state. i tried the envelope thing and i just lost my money. it was a releative and i never asked them again. coworkers going on vacation work better.

regarding hitting on the 3 or 4 drawing and then going cold. hell this is all random. i have won 3 or 4 times on the same ticket because i had  a good powerball ticket. sometimes i don't hit until the 20th drawing. the long drawing ticket is all i buy. just because i don't want to have to go in the store to buy a ticket when the pot gets big. it doesn't care when you bought the ticket. just as long as you got the ticket. i am in PA right now and i am going to get me a 25 drawing ticket. this will take me into next year and hopefully it will be a winning ticket. oh yeah i have had many tickets that i purchased for 20 drawings turn out to be nothing but losers.  

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

Quote: Originally posted by dingo on Oct 26, 2006

thanks for the tip, but they won't let people mail the lottery ticket through mail. It must be physically present in order to be legally purchasing the tickets.

yes you can. they will ask you if you where you purchased the ticket. you can just tell them that my cousin purchased the ticket for you. you only have to worry about that if you win over 600 dollars. anything under that amount they just don't care and you get your money. retailers are held to that rule not friends and family.

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