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
The good thing is, with the jackpot as high as $212M, there were only five 5+0. Therefore there is likely gonna be one winner and I think we need another huge millionaire.
That's what I was thinking.
Thanks for the numbers but can you give us the "powerball" number please?
You have to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 59 and you have to pick 1 number from 1 to 39.
I always play the first 4 numbers......
I hope that I am not the only one that has noticed that "huge millionaires" keep people employed.
Every luxury item that is purchased or used, is either made by or provided by regular people earning a living !
When one person wins, it can have a big impact on the economy.
I know that if I won, it would have a big impact on the economy.
I wouldn't spend it all, but I wouldn't purchase the cheapest car available and move into a double wide home !
Luxury items can be considered hard assests, and hard assests will always have value. Our money can be devalued by the government at their will.
What may seem to be a stupid purchase to one person, could turn out to be a very wise investment.
Agreed.
I would focus most of my philanthropy locally (within county), several state/regional causes, and a couple national-level ones.
I noticed MegaMillions is up there too...I'm hoping it hits $300M...hasn't in a while.
Thats so true I am also going to spend it in within my country unless when I go out for a vac then thats a different story.....but mostly will be within my country.....I am ready for Wednesday.....Goood luck to all....
I hope MM holds out until next Thursday when I will be in a MM state!!
someone earlier mentioned he wanted to own a million share of FCX (Freeport McMoran). lol.. i love that stock.
it was my favorite in 2007, and its again my favorite in 2009.
wow, one million shares...
what a lovely thought.
Hey kingssean...you still have time to take an hours ride to ct for powerball tickets...it was your dream ,and i would love to see someone from LP hit the big one..
if you did hit the big one would you still chat with us?????????????
How much does powerball usually go up by each drawing?
do u happen to remember what the powerball was? i dream numbers all the time, but so far it hasnt panned out nothing !!
it is usually based on the sale of how many tickets are sold.
The jackpot has been updated to $250 million.
The Jackpot is $250 million Annuity and $124.8 million Cash -
That is about $81,120,000 after Federal Taxes in Pennsylvania (No State or Local Tax).
That means your tax obligation without any extra deductions would be about $43,680,000 !!!
The political party of the GREED OF ENVY does not think that is enough taxes !!!!
Sure $81 million is more than most of us could conceive of having, but it belongs to the person or persons that win !!!!
I know of some places that I could help with sizeable donations. The money could be concentrated where it would have the maximum impact !!!!!
I am disabled and live on about $17,000 a year plus what my wife makes. I could use alot more money, but the money that the wealthy people have belongs to them. I do not have the right to what is theirs.
Ok i know i'm gonna take a hit here...but taxes do have a purpose, they help the impoverished, fund schools and roads, and pay our military salaries. If we didn't pay taxes at all we would be back to dirt roads. I'm not sure I would like that so much.
I'm with Chelsea Handler...i would just be happy to be in a higher tax bracket :)
I am not against paying taxes -
I am against confiscatory taxes !
I am against those that think that they have a RIGHT to other peoples money and posessions !
States use to do most of it, then the Feds stuck their noses in further and further and things got really, really, reallllllly bloated.
That's what lotteries are fore. It's another way that the government get more cash coming in. The IRS agents are no tax angels, but vampires who, oddly, only suck cash.