Quote: Originally posted by Bug on December 26, 2002
Was the match 5 bonus even implemented? I am not even sure what a record level is for the PowerBall, but it seems they aren't going to get alot of use out of this match 5 plan? Have they ever had a match 5 draw?
Bug,
No the Match 5 Bonus was not in effect last night. It is only in effect when the jackpot goes over the previous Powerball record. The previous Powerball record was $295.7 Mil. If you add $25 Mil (the cap) to that you get $320.7 Mil. At that point any money over $320.7 Mil would have gone into the Match 5 bonus pool. But as we all saw the total amount was $314.9 Mil or about $5.8 Mil short. If there hadn't been a winner last night then Saturday's drawing would have been worth $339.9 Mil and anything sold over $25 Mil would have been put in the Match 5 bonus pool.
So the next time the Match 5 bonus would be in effect is if a jackpot exceeded $339.9 Mil. Since it took 16 drawings for the jackpot to get this high, it's likely we won't be considering the Match 5 bonus until at least early March (assuming no one wins between now and then).