The jackpot in "America's Game" is headed higher and higher.
Even though Saturday evening's draw did not generate a jackpot winner, 372,266 players across the nation won a total of more than $3.4 million in prizes.
Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $60 million.
The cash option for the Wednesday, September 7th drawing will be an estimated $30.5 million.
The numbers drawn Saturday night were 1, 3, 30, 31, 43 and the Powerball was 36. The Power Play multiplier was 4.
Two lucky players correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $200,000. The tickets were sold in Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Twenty-six players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Eight additional players who won at this prize level also purchased the Power Play and multiplied their prize 4 times for a total win of $40,000!
More than 52,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prizes 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 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 can win up to $1 million cash with the option!
Tickets should be carefully checked at USA Mega after every draw. Even if there are no jackpot winners there are always tens of thousands of winners at other prize levels. More than $16 million in tickets were purchased between Wednesday and Saturday night.
The lotteries sold approximately $2 billion in Powerball tickets in FY05. That translates into more than $600 million for worthwhile state projects.
Powerball is now played in 27 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Next year Powerball tickets will also be sold in Oklahoma.
Only a $7 million rollover. I suspect gas prices (as well as many closed Louisiana stores) are to blame. I played $2 Labor Day for the first time since the new matrix began.
Watching the way the Powerplay option hits for a while is going to be worth the price of admission. That 4x is encouraging, but it will be interesting to see whether there are long runs of 2x., since 3 seems to be an awfully popular number in the digit draws. I've stopped buying it for a while, maybe for good, but I'll be open minded. If it averages 3x as it should it might be worth buying one of occasionally.
Jack
rip:
There are equal numbers of 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x. Therefore the average multiplier is 3.5x.
It's not that far off-track from the old PowerPlay average of 3.8
True. But it will take a while to see how it plays out long term.
Jack