Wednesday's Powerball jackpot will be the largest in the game's history. The estimated $340 million jackpot breaks the game's previous record of $314.9 million won on December 25th, 2002.
Even though the grand prize was not hit Saturday evening, 2,575,121 players across the nation won a total of more than $19.9 million in prizes.
The cash option for the Wednesday, October 19th drawing will be an estimated $164.4 million. The numbers drawn Saturday night were 1, 7, 8, 34, 45 and the Powerball was 15. The Power Play multiplier was 3.
Twenty-one players in the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas (3), Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska (2), New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania (3), South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont matched all 5 white balls and won $200,000.
One Hundred Nineteen players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Thirteen additional players who won at this prize level also purchased the Power Play and had their $10,000 winnings multiplied by 3 to $30,000.
More than 257,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prizes by 3 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 to 5 times, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.
Match 5 Bonus Prize in effect for the first time
A feature added to Powerball in 2002, the Match 5 Bonus Prize, kicks in for the first time and is designed to provide more players with the opportunity to share in such a large prize.
"It's thrilling to be able to unveil this new feature, which spreads Powerball excitement and winnings even further," said John Musgrave, Chairman of the Powerball Group and Director of the West Virginia Lottery. "As sales and prizes grow to new levels, so does the amount of money raised for the positive programs our member lotteries fund."
The portion of sales normally added to the jackpot amount above $340 million will be moved to the new Bonus Prize pool. If a player wins Wednesday's estimated jackpot, any player who correctly matches the five white ball numbers will win an equal share of the Bonus Prize pool in addition to the usual prizes for that level. The usual Match 5 prize is $200,000 and can be increased up to $1 million with purchase of the Power Play option. The Bonus Prize is automatic and will be added to whatever Match 5 prizes are already won. The Bonus Prize is available at no additional cost to the player.
"The great thing about this feature is that it comes at absolutely no additional cost to the player," said Musgrave. "This is just one way to keep our game fresh and exciting and a continued source of fun for players."
Here's how it works:
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When the previous record Powerball jackpot has been surpassed, a new "Share the Winnings" feature sets jackpot growth to no more than $25 million per draw. Any additional funds that would go into the grand prize pool above the $25 million will be placed into a Bonus Prize Pool that will be divided equally among any 5 of 5 prize winners of the drawing in which the jackpot is hit.
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Match 5 Bonus prizes are paid in a lump sum.
- Winning Match 5 players who played Power Play will win $200,000 multiplied by the selected multiplier. The BONUS prize will then be added to this total. The Bonus prize is not multiplied by the Power Play option.
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The Bonus Prize Pool grows until the jackpot is won. The Bonus Prize Pool grows just as the primary jackpot pool rolls and is paid out only when there is a jackpot winner.
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Players who match 5 white ball numbers for that drawing still win $200,000 or $200,000 times the Power Play number if the player purchased that option.
Check your tickets
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 $103.1 million in tickets between Thursday and Saturday night. The lotteries sold more than $2 billion in Powerball tickets in FY05. That translates into more than $600 million for worthwhile state projects.
I would rather have seen every one who hit 5-5 during the freeze share in the total Bonus Pot at the end. Of course, that would not have made for as great a number, and the higher the numbers, the greater the hype. The greater the hype, the higher the sheep count. The higher the count, the higher the bonus. No wonder that John Musgrave, Chairman of the Powerball Group and Director of the West Virginia Lottery, was so thrilled about the new rules.
Chewie,
That's the way it's always worked. Why the sour attitude about it? Have some fun! That rule about the Bonus Prize Pool has been in effect for years now, but it's never even been tested before. Why not give it a chance to see how it goes before ripping it a new one?
However, as always, I enjoy your commentary.
The cap should not be in effect until the next drawing (if it rolls one more time). If you calculate the annuity jackpot with the same cash to annuity ratio they had before Powerball changed this year, the jackpot is only a $300 million jackpot. $15 million less than what Jack won. By saying its a record powerball jackpot they are basically false advertising (atleast in my book).
The cap should not be in effect until the next drawing (if it rolls one more time). If you calculate the annuity jackpot with the same cash to annuity ratio they had before Powerball changed this year, the jackpot is only a $300 million jackpot. $15 million less than what Jack won. By saying its a record powerball jackpot they are basically false advertising (atleast in my book).
The cap is based on the annuity value, not the cash value, so the cap is being appropriately applied to this drawing.
I think some people are just having a hard time with the fact that they changed the annuity forumla.
There is no false advertising. The cash value is what it is, and the annuity is what it is. You're placing too much emphasis on the cash value, because like it or not, MUSL bases everything off the annuity value, not the cash.
I wonder how much marketing they did to educate people of the new annuity schedule. Most people will believe that when there is a new record annuity jackpot that basically means a new record cash value (Most people at this jackpot level will choose cash). Powerball could tomorrow change the cash to annuity ratio to around 25% which could lead to a new record annuity jackpot of $400 million. Does that really mean its a new record? Not in my book.
The record jackpot title should only be given to the new Powerball jackpot if the annuity was the same as before; 29 equal payments NOT backloaded payments.
But this is only my opinion. Most people really dont care.
When Jack Whittaker won the prize in 2002 the jackpot was $314.9M worthed $111.7M cash.
Wednesday's jackpot is estimated to be $340.0M worthed $164.4M cash.
The actual cash payout will be $50M+ more than it was when Jack won.
That makes it a new record in my book.
Chewie,
That's the way it's always worked. Why the sour attitude about it? Have some fun! That rule about the Bonus Prize Pool has been in effect for years now, but it's never even been tested before. Why not give it a chance to see how it goes before ripping it a new one?
However, as always, I enjoy your commentary.
When some one from the lottery higharchy tells me how great something is, I gotta ask what their motive is.
My dad told me, almost every day of his life, nothing is free. Someone, somewhere, paid for it some how. There is a penalty for every short cut. He made me question my decision to want a motorcycle over a car, and analysize the advantages and disadvantages of each decision. When I did that, the results were results I was aware of. He felt you could do dumb things in life, just know they were dumb things before you did them. He had no problem with me jumping off a bridge, he just wanted me to realize whether I could swim or not, before I jumped. He died of cancer, and wanted me to know that if I also wanted to smoke, I might also die of cancer. Make the decision based on your brain, not your emotion.
I have to ask myself, when was the last time a lottry executive jumped up on a bandwagon and did something for the lottery players? Why now? Why not push it every drawing? Usually, the answer is always related to profits. Follow the money. Make people think about why some one went out of their way to pick today to push something. I question why they chose the giveaway option they did and not one that would have benefited a greater population - with the same cost to them.
At the end of the day, I'll be in line, like the rest of the sheep, buying those magical tickets. Wondering how I would handle winning $150M, or whatever the number will be. But I will have done it knowing I thought about why I was spending that ticket money before I spent it. It will not be because I was a victum to the hype or a victum of emotion. It will be because I had a dream outside of the hype and emotion had not a single thing to do with it.
When Jack Whittaker won the prize in 2002 the jackpot was $314.9M worthed $111.7M cash.
Wednesday's jackpot is estimated to be $340.0M worthed $164.4M cash.
The actual cash payout will be $50M+ more than it was when Jack won.
That makes it a new record in my book.
I dont know where you got your information but the cash value was more than $170 million when Jack won.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/12/26/powerball.jackpot/
The $111.7 Million must have been after taxes.
Lets compare. Jack won $315 million/$170 million cash and the jackpot next wednesday is $340 million/$164.4 million cash.
Dont get me wrong, its still alot of money.
I got my information at : http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/12/26/powerball.jackpot/
Sorry I only read the head lines and not the rest of the story.
I got my information at : http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/12/26/powerball.jackpot/
So did I. You need to read a little more and you will see that the 5th paragraph tells you that the cash value was more than $170 million.
I stand corrected, but I don't think it will matter to the winner.
I'm constantly amazed at the quibbling on these posts over how the players are getting bamboozled by the lottery executives or the hand wringing over whether it's better to take the annuity versus cash and how the lottery is rigging everything against the players. Or whether it's a new record depending upon how the calculation is done.
Would any of you even care if you had to deal with the problem of worrying about this if you actually won the jackpot? Not me. I'd love the problem of figuring out what to do with with $340 million bucks or any of the second prizes for that matter.
I'm constantly amazed at the quibbling on these posts over how the players are getting bamboozled by the lottery executives or the hand wringing over whether it's better to take the annuity versus cash and how the lottery is rigging everything against the players. Or whether it's a new record depending upon how the calculation is done.
Would any of you even care if you had to deal with the problem of worrying about this if you actually won the jackpot? Not me. I'd love the problem of figuring out what to do with with $340 million bucks or any of the second prizes for that matter.
Most of us are not going to be that lucky. There might be only one or two ticket holders who will be that lucky.
Ofcourse when you are given $164.4 million dollars before taxes you wont care if it was a record jackpot or not. I would be happy even if I win $200,000 for matching 5 balls. I'm not sayings that its not a lot of money for most of us.
But I just dont agree that the next wednesday's jackpot is a record Powerball jackpot. I don think you can compare a annuity jackpot that is backloaded to the previous Powerball annuity schedule of equal payments. To ME its like comparing apples and oranges. Ofcourse this just MY opinion and I'm not trying to enforce it on anyone else.
Would any of you even care if you had to deal with the problem of worrying about this if you actually won the jackpot? Not me. I'd love the problem of figuring out what to do with with $340 million bucks or any of the second prizes for that matter.
Not me. I would love to win any amount. =)