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By Todd Northrop

There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday night drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery game, causing the grand prize to increase to an estimated $216 million for Saturday's drawing.

Wednesday was the 10th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.  The jackpot run started February 9 as a $40 million jackpot.

The estimated cash value for the new jackpot is $132.8 million. After-tax cash and annuity prize amounts are reported state-by-state on the Jackpot Analysis page at USA Mega, a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery games.

Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs.

Although there were no jackpot winners Wednesday, 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from Florida, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from New Hampshire, and 1 from North Dakota.  None of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option. If they had, their second-prize win would have automatically doubled to $2 million.

37 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Of those tickets, 6 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $40,000.

The Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday, March 13, were 5, 9, 28, 32, and 38, with Powerball number 29.

Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $33 million from its previous amount of $183 million. The cash value was raised by $20.3 million, from its previous amount of $112.5 million.

The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.

When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.

Powerball is now played in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

On April 8, California will join the Powerball game, becoming the 43rd state to play the game. After California joins the game, Powerball will be available for purchase in every U.S. state that operates a lottery.

The Powerball winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.