The excitement is rising along with the jackpot in America's favorite lottery game. There were no Powerball jackpot winners Saturday but 694,536 players across the nation won a total of more than $5.7 million in prizes in America's Game. Sixteen of those players were just the Powerball away from winning the jackpot.
Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $120 million. That's currently the largest lottery jackpot in the nation. The cash option for the Wednesday, April 28 drawing will be an estimated $63.4 million.
The numbers drawn were: 2, 13, 22, 35, 44, and the Powerball was 28. The Power Play multiplier was 2.
Sixteen players correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $100,000. The tickets were sold in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Idaho (2), Indiana, Kentucky (2), New Hampshire, Pennsylvania (2), Rhode Island, and Tennessee (5). Both winning players from Kentucky purchased the Power Play option. By spending the extra dollar those players multiplied their prize by 2 for a total win of $200,000.
Fifty-eight players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $5,000. Ten of those players purchased the Power Play option, giving them a total win of $10,000.
More than 73,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 2 Saturday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for one dollar. With Power Play you can multiply your winnings, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.
This current jackpot run started with the Wednesday, March 17 drawing. The drawing on Saturday night was the 12th consecutive draw without being hit. More than 4.7 million Powerball players across the nation have won a total of more than $38.7 million in cash prizes since this jackpot run started in mid- March.
Players purchased more than 25.6 million tickets between Thursday and Saturday night.
The lotteries sold more than $2 billion in Powerball tickets in 2003. That translates into more than $600 million for worthwhile state projects.
I just have a feeling this thing is on the way to over 200 million before we'll have a winner.
Good Luck Everyone, Chas
Very popular in Tennessee, I see.