Approaching record levels; largest Powerball jackpot in 17 months
There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday night drawing of the muilti-state Powerball game, causing the grand prize to increase to an estimated $245 million for Wednesday's drawing.
Saturday was the 14th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.
The estimated cash value for the new jackpot is $122.6 Million. After-tax cash and annuity prize amounts are reported state-by-state at USA Mega (www.usamega.com/powerball-jackpot.asp), a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state games.
Even though there were no jackpot winners, five lucky tickets matched the first five numbers for a $200,000 second-place prize: 1 from Florida, 2 from Kentucky, 1 from Maine, and 1 from Tennessee. The second-place ticket sold in Tennessee was purchased with the Power Play option, which automatically multiplies the prize by 5 times, to $1 million.
64 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Of those tickets, 11 also were purchased with the Power Play option, multiplying the prize by 5 for a total cash prize of $50,000.
The Powerball winning numbers for Saturday, August 15, were 14-15-26-32-36, with Powerball number 12. The Power Play number was 5.
The Powerball jackpot has not been at this high level for over 17 months. On March 15, 2008, the grand prize reached $276 million before being snagged by eight coworkers in a West Virginia tax office.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is multiplied from 2-5 times, depending on a computerized random number generated that evening. Second-place Power Play-enabled tickets matching five numbers but not the Powerball are always multiplied by 5 times, for a $1 million prize.
Powerball is now played in 30 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Isn't USAMega your site too Todd? If so that's twice in recent history you've been mentioned in the press. Pretty nifty.
The above story was written by Todd. That's why the site was mentioned.
Oh my God...this is getting better and BETTER!
A multi-million dollar windfall is still up for grabs! My dream of winning is still alive!
Gotta buy my tickets now...I can't wait for the next draw!
Good luck to us all!!!
My goodness there is a lot of money to be had next Tuesday and Wednesday. To think I could go from one of the poorest people in the country to one of the richest in one drawing is just incredible. Good luck everyone!
Looks like it's time to drive to Idaho. That is after buying my Mega Millions ticket in Washington, of course.
Good luck to all for Tuesday and Wednesday.....This is my time.....I know I am winning it this time, I have been in line for some time now.
Good luck again....Rem only a $1 and your life changes completely.....I have my tix ready. GOD please shine your miracle on me thanks alot for listening.
Hey everybody. I know that the jackpot is going up and everyone wants to win. Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamed that I won the powerball jackpot, but the truth is I don't even live in a state where Powerball is played. I can still recalled the winning numbers. It was 03-07-12-26-35-51..here it is people
I want my Powerball ticket to win this jackpot. I am ready for its currency.
I would be humbled to win the Powerball on Wednesday !
Jackpot bigger than the one in SD !
Disability doesn't go too far !
Waiting to find out about my bad report from the Dr.
A win won't make everything go away, but it would sure help the situation !
Praying for some better news !
Is Powerball the biggest lottery in the U.S. (in terms of jackpot size)? Is it the biggest in the world? Just curious.
Thanks.
Both Megamillions and powerball are the the biggest lottery in the U.S. The only difference is that the powerball start at 25 Millions eachtime the jackpot is hit
well that's nice and all it's no good w/o knowing which one is the powerball!!!
No, it starts at $20 million.
But the cash prize percentage is bigger for MegaMillions is bigger, the odds for mega are less bad, but matching the "ball" for Mega is $2 while for PB it is $3. I got my Mega Millions tickets today, and I have a couple of PowerBalls.
While $245 mil sounds nice, the odds for our state lotto are 28x better. So getting 1 PB is like getting 28 state tickets. Getting the 1st Million cash is MUCH more important to me than the following $82 million cash (aft taxes) to me.
I would LOVe to have the Illinois Little Lotto prize today. It is $510,000 with 1:575,757 odds.
Gotta respect those large amounts in PB and MM! So that is why I'm holding a couple.
It would be cool to have one million shares of FCX!...
MarkP