Lottery prepares to greet historic winner while thousands of players scooped up prizes last night
By Kate Northrop
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Someone in Maryland just became the first Powerball player in the United States to win the multi-state game's $10 million Double Play top prize.
Last night, a Maryland Lottery player made history when they bought a Powerball ticket with the new Double Play option for the drawing on Mon., Sept. 27 and won the very first $10 million top prize from the add-on feature's extra drawing.
That winning ticket was sold at the Exxon gas station on Rockville Pike in Rockville and matched every number in the Sept. 27 Double Play drawing: 2, 27, 51, 62, and 66, with Powerball number 1. The retailer will get a $10,000 bonus for selling the historic ticket.
"It's always exciting when the jackpot is rolling, but selling the very first $10 million-winning Double Play ticket takes it to a whole different level," Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin said in a press release. "We've now had a Powerball jackpot prize and a Double Play top-tier prize in Maryland this year."
According to the Lottery, there were 2,417 Double Play winners in Maryland for the Sept. 27 drawing, with other prizes ranging from $7 to $500, and 29,679 Double Play winners nationwide.
Double Play is a new Powerball add-on feature that was launched in August. For an extra $1, it gives players another chance to match their Powerball numbers in a second drawing with a top cash prize of $10 million. Winners of the top prize do not have choose whether to receive and annuity or the cash option like they would in the regular Powerball game: the top prize in Double Play is always cash.
The Double Play option is available in 13 lottery jurisdictions, which are: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington.
The Double Play feature may be offered in additional states in the future, depending on whether lotteries choose to offer them in their jurisdictions.
Thousands of players from Maryland won prizes in the Sept. 27 Powerball drawing too. A Food Lion grocery store on Churchville Road in Bel Air sold a winning third-prize $50,000 Powerball ticket, and a total of 20,750 winners scooped up prizes ranging from $4 to $50,000.
Some might also remember the memorable $731.1 million Powerball jackpot from earlier this year that contended with a record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.05 billion. That Powerball jackpot drawn on Jan. 20, 2021 was won by a single ticket sold in Lonaconing.
Powerball currently boasts a swelling jackpot of $570 million to be drawn Wednesday night — the 12th-largest US lottery jackpot of all time. The cash option for Wednesday jackpot currently stands at $410.1 million, which is the 8th-largest US lottery jackpot cash value in history.
The winning numbers and official drawing video will be published at USA Mega Wednesday night after 11:00 pm Eastern Time (8:00 pm Pacific).
The Lottery recommends that all players sign the back of their tickets immediately and put them in a safe location. Winners get 182 days from the date of the drawing to claim prizes.
In the meantime, the Lottery will be preparing to greet the nation's first-ever Double Play winner.
"We can't wait to meet the $10 million winner and help them celebrate," Martin concluded.
* Just when you think no one will win, it happens! Congratulations & enjoy.
I've actually had better luck matching Double Play numbers than the regular Powerball numbers. I'm also digging the prize amounts.
That lucky person beat incredible odds. Congratulations!!
<clearing throat> Should have been in TN
"Let'z pick a John Doe SchmuckLucker to win on Monday,.. THAT'LL bring'em running".
Coming from a state that's never sold a losing ticket, I'm not that impressed.
U know what, i do NOT blame u, for thinking this way.
My dad used to sound like that. yyyep.
Make no damxn sense. Geez. never? that's so wrong imo jmho on that.
as dad say, it's rigged, cassie, when it's like "that."
or 1 big winner when ur able to give/split more, more big 1 million dollar winners
or heck, "with 4 numbers and powerball" = multiple PER state, should win, not just one.
but again congrats!
LOL...... The good news is currently there are only 13 states participating in Double Play. The fact that California/Texas and New York sat this one out should mean more chances for other states since those 3 states have so many millions of players. The chances of someone else is Maryland getting the 10 million dollar prize again is pretty remote. So that narrows it down to 12 states. Tennessee could be next in line, who knows? Congrats to the lucky winner in Maryland. It's going to be a great holiday season for them.
I was thinking Mich.,but that's just me.
Congrats to the Lucky winner, I just might give it a try.
Maybe someone already posted this -- Do we know if the 2nd drawing they do is a different set of balls? or just continue with the same set?
Here's everything you need to know about the PB Double Play
https://www.mdlottery.com/games/powerball/double-play/
I would like to know that too?
Thanks to Gwurstons link here is the answer
No. There will be separate machines and ball sets. In Powerball drawings, the ball set for the five numbers from 1 to 69 will be white, and the ball set for the Powerball number from 1 to 26 will be red. In Double Play drawings, the ball set for the five numbers from 1 to 69 will be black, and the ball set for the Double Play Powerball number from 1 to 26 will be red.