By Todd Northrop
There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday night drawing of the multi-state Powerball game, causing the grand prize to increase to an estimated $253 million for Saturday's drawing.
Wednesday was the 13th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.
The estimated cash value for the new jackpot is $170.5 Million. After-tax cash and annuity prize amounts are reported state-by-state on the Jackpot Analysis page at USA Mega, a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery games.
This is the largest Powerball jackpot since Feb. 11, 2012, when 81-year-old Louise White of Newport, R.I., won a $336.4 million Powerball jackpot (see Rhode Island woman, 81, claims $336 Million Powerball jackpot, Lottery Post, March 6, 2012).
Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs.
Even though there were no jackpot winners, 22 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from Connecticut, 2 from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 2 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Kansas, 1 from Michigan, 3 from New Hampshire, 3 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from Ohio, 1 from Oklahoma, 1 from Oregon, and 1 from Washington, D.C.
Of all the second-prize winners, only one ticket from Florida was purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1. Because they purchased the Power Play, that particular ticket is now worth $2 million.
145 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Of those tickets, 29 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $40,000.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.
The Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday, August 8, were 3, 7, 11, 15, and 28, with Powerball number 12.
Wednesday evening's Powerball jackpot rollover is unusual considering the fact that all of the first five numbers and the Powerball number were less than 31 — "birthday numbers", in lottery lingo. Since one of the most popular ways to play the lottery is to pick numbers based on birthdays of family members, lottery drawings containing all low numbers normally are more likely to produce a jackpot winner. With the larger ticket volume purchased due to the high jackpot, the odds were good that somebody would win it all — and in fact 22 tickets came very close, matching all the numbers except the Powerball number.
Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $41 million from its previous amount of $212 million. The cash value was raised by $27.6 million from its previous amount of $142.9 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday evening at 10:59 pm EDT.
Powerball is now played in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega.
I could live very well on $170.5 million dollars before taxes. (cash option)
Looks like a few birthday/anniversary number players won 2nd and 3rd tier prizes...rolling over at least one more time so I can buy my quick pick for $300 million plus jackpot. Bring it on, come on!
This should jump start the lottery fever again, for which there is no cure.
(Except Winning). 
I never saw so many 1 million dollar winners... simply amazing! My state is in here, Ohio
Good luck to all who play the next drawing.
This balloon will burst Saturday.
The 3 Asset Managers from Connecticut are going to win this jackpot with a $2 Quick Pick Ticket.
i could live off the interest on the interest
Or they will be three lottery commission directors from New York, who were in a pool at work.
How true! Never touch the principal, just give it all to the grand kids, or any kids, or me!
ding ding ding
$253M+
I bet there's 21 people wishin' they'da spent the extra buck.
They will take your money betting $2 on a ticket.
Do you really think that you are going to win? Good luck.
Nah, even if I won, I'd probably still play. Although more scratch-offs than quick picks. I like instant gratification. :-)
You can always play on the day of the drawing.
I thought that birthdays players never win the lottery.Who knows when it comes to random.
I think that many players lost big time on last night drawing. I mean take a look at the amount of replies on this thread.
I consider that a bonus for the years of losing money.
OR PICK YOU FAV SIX NUMBERS MARK EM ON THE COUPON, AND TIME GETTING TO THE STORE 5 MIN BEFORE IT CLOSES LOL just in geting on time will be a thrill
Are you kidding me? Players were complaining about the $2 ticket cost, and you think that they will spend $3 for a single line. It is insane to do that man.
It does not matter when you buy the stupid tickets to win.
I have heard that phrase so many times on lottery post. Good luck.
so 5 min before store closes is a good plan then?
you should try it, maybe this coming PB draw
lol indeed. I always play power play.
The gas station where I buy my PB ticket is opened 24 hours everyday but they stop selling PB ticket for that night's drawing an hour before the drawing. Any PB tickets bought after that will be for the next drawing.
Now there's a smart consumer!
Yeah ok I mean time your entry to the store / gas station 5 min before close off time for the nights draw, with a self picked coupon you filled out.
If that ain't $2's worth of excitement or disappointment i don't know what is.
Insane to spend an extry buck for an extry million?
Not to mention 40K instead of 10K for 4 + 1.
Not to me, Jim.
I only play two lines so it's only a couple extry bucks.
It's only money.
Actually, you aren't supposed to play the powerplay when the jackpot reaches a certain amount. It's something like 80 mil, I think. So, yes, it is insane. If you are one of the people that win a million, then you win a million, that's it, congrats, but you aren't supposed to powerplay at this point.
Oh, I forgot to include: when you don't powerplay, you're supposed to just buy multiple tickets.
im glad we dont have it here. way i see it is , all the losing tickets, and i have many, are paying for the winning tickets to get more. let them pay for their own prizes. id still rather 2x as many chances. but thats just me. also we have quite a few under 41 entries out here. the min entry is 4 lines, but that only cost $2.20c , so its 55c a game,
our power ball is 65c a line and the only big game we have is a 7 from 45 that costs $1.20 ea. i think i would really quit that one if ity went to power play of sorts.
I just got my ticket for saturday so no need for any one to buy any more because I have the winner. Thanks for the support!-weshar75
You mean you have all the second and third prizes tied up as well, all on one ticket. Very impressive weshar75!!!
Guess I'll just paper file those 10 QP's I just bought today, what a waste of $20
Hey, you never know. Somebody might win it.
You are blasting shotgun style like everybody else. Lottery players played heavily last night.
You might get what you wishing for.Good luck.
You have to learn to play your own jackpot or play less often.
$3 for a single line is out of this world. Hell no, hell no. Okay that's enough.
Okay, Mr. 1% keep risking those dollars.
Where in the heck did you hear of that stupid rule?
Must be true,then.
ALL YOU NEED IS A LOTTERY TICKET AND A DREAM TO WIN A JACKPOT SOMEDAY.
GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY.
I am saying I would like a nice prize on saturday night. Either the $40,000 or the $2 million or the Jackpot. I would also settle for a $200 win if the jackpot rolled over for wednesday night too. Good luck to you Mcginnin!-weshar75
Right back at you weshar!
Maybe we'll both go home with a nice check. 
I could live pretty nicely with that $2 million win for a long time too.-weshar75
Bet your Mom would be grinning ear to ear, about that kind of a win!
She went crazy when we had 3 numbers the other night for $14. I can't imagine what she will do if I hit the big one!-weshar75
Supposed to do this?
Not supposed to do that?
Insane?
Who said?
And what's the bulge -- considering you've ruled out getting an extra million dollars if you get 5+0?
ONE more chance in 175 million to win?
Nah.
And if it's just about saving a couple dollars -----------> I really ain't worried about it.
Yay for the rollover! Gonna get some tickets! Good luck to everyone!
And good luck to me, too! 
Good luck, Piaceri!
Roger that, I could see not getting the Powerplay if you're playing a lot of tickets.
But it ain't no big whoop if you're only playing two lines like I do.
Thanks, sugar. Good luck to you and your power play!
I bet there are 22 people wishing they had picked a different power ball.
Yes, I do! And thanks!
$253 million sounds good to me.....
It was probably 21 clerks who did'nt know how to add the dollar. They keep screwing up my tickets when i ask for powerplay.
That is why I fill out a game slip so the only way they mess it up is if they rip the game slip.-weshar75
Unless you're winning, they're saving you a dollar.
Always play the powerplay, its worth the money... I'll buy my one PB ticket for tonights drawing.
A $127,875,000 wire transfer from the Pennsylvania Lottery sounds good to me!
Ka-ching!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The moment of nail biting has arrived. Good luck to all of you who purchased a ticket. I will be on the side line cheering you on!!!
Turning a $2 Powerball ticket into $253 Millions is a big return on investment.
I just read in my local paper 1 of the 5 + 0 tickets was sold at a 7-11 in the next town over called northfield,
Its called a lucky location and I used to get my tix. there when i lived in that town,
and still do if i have to stop at the post office across the st.
Over 35,000,000 PB tickets will have been sold by tonight's drawing and I'm planning on owning 10 of them.
Excellent decision and strategy RJ!
Your winning ticket would translate to a ROI of 12,650,000%.
I bought a second one while ago based upon the fortune from a fortune cookie.
Are you willing to share what numbers were in this mysterious fortune cookie.
ummmmm no...lol And I just realized I did not even look at the fortune...just the numbers....
A wise choice. Why share the jackpot with the hundreds of others, who might possibly run out to play that lucky fortune cookie number tonight.
No one talks about any possibility of CA joining PB.... :(
lol right.
I'm thinking to buy 1-2-3-4-5 6
After spending nights on calculations, decided this one will do.
Your chances of winning is equal as anyone else's, no matter what numbers you select. 1:175,223,510 Good luck!
I'll be happy to share the jackpot and to prove it I'll be posting the 10 lines I'm playing on the prediction board as soon as I return from buying them.
But the cutoff time for posting is at noon every day RJ. How will you be posting your PB numbers on the board this late in the day, unless your talking
about the drawing for Wednesday.
Haven't you read the rules on the prediction board?
You can post for any game up to an hour before its drawing which means I have until 10:00 PM EST to post PB numbers.
I really hope someone wins Powerball tonight and the jackpot gets reset cause right now Mega Millions is getting neglected.
I noticed tickets sales were down a couple of millions from the last time its jackpot was at the same level so I must not be the only one who switched over to PB.
OK I see where I was confused. I post only all states, which does require you to post by noon. But since your posting for just your state, that
deadline wouldn't apply. I stand corrected. Thanks for the lesson!
Look forward to your numbers being posted!
I will take this jackpot off your hands. Your welcome!-weshar75
So if I decided to play the combination 3-7-11-15-28 Powerball: 12 for tonight's drawing, I have an equal chance of winning as if I decided to play another set of numbers? Some how, I really doubt it.
One things for sure, if 3-7-11-15-28 Powerball: 12 is drawn tonight, there is going to be an angry mob outside of the Powerball office because something aint right.
Yup, same chances. Despite the angry mobs, the numbers don't pay that much attention to what people think anyways!
You could play the winning number for this evenings PB, and you would still have the same odds and equal chance, of that number being drawn
again on Wednesday. That's just mathematics and probability at work. And they work 24/7, even while we
.
I wish they were drawing it really at night, like 4-5 am. So, you wake up, refreshed and millionare. Somehow it feel that chances to win get higher, when you can't care less about it (sleeping)
But then, chances are I won't be sleeping until 4-5 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
so if I flipped a coin 5 times and it came out heads 5 times in a row, I'd still have a 50 percent chance of getting heads again on the 6th coin toss? After all, the coin doesn't pay attention to what people think. I would say the chances of getting heads again would decrease and the chances of getting tails would increase after every flip where I got heads consecutively.
From the probability stand point, every event is not dependant on outcome of the previous events.
From psychology stand point, it certainly does.
People on LP are trying to predict next numbers based on the previous drawings. Well, it has nothing to do with statistics, just human psychology.
Here's our work pool hoping we hit 2night. GL every1.
I hope your pool wins so you can all quit. That job looks dangerous.
Brought 55 tickets
don't ask me how many tickets I bought when the Mega Millions jackpot was 656 million last April. All I will admit is, a lot.
It is like that for me, can't stay up late enough for the drawing @ 2258 hours
and in the A.M. I don't think about it til. later in the day.
would be fun, wake up, go to work, even though you don't want to,
then around lunchtime you find out you're worth millions,
see ya'
This is why some lottery winners don't look excited at the press conference. They find out they have the winning ticket at around 11 PM eastern time and now they can't get any sleep until the money has been collected. By the time the press conference comes around, they're almost comatose.
That's what players who buy quick picks and don't track draw history like to think.
would that be a lot of difference for you, if you win 25 or 656 millions? Non-different for me, either ammount is more then I foresee earning just by going to work. So, I play even when MM is just 12 mil.
Though, I have to admit, I have to be spending less on lotteries, otherwise I will go broke soon.
There would be little difference to me, I'd be ecstatic either way but at the same time I'd be lying if I said the prospect of winning 656 million is not more exciting to me than the prospect of winning 25 million.
I posted the ten lines I played on the prediction board but they only matched a 3+0 and a 1+1 for $11.
whiteballz,
"so if I flipped a coin 5 times and it came out heads 5 times in a row, I'd still have a 50 percent chance of getting heads again on the 6th coin toss? After all, the coin doesn't pay attention to what people think."
Exactly!
Couldn't resist, coin toss and all!
the powerball jackpot rolled to 305 million. Is it hammer time yet?
Maybe in 4 more draws.
think how many total tickets were sold an nobody matched 5+1 thats probably 30 million tickets or more so even if you buy 100 tickets its not really increasing your chances that much.
No, itwill be hit by a ticket purchased in Northern Illinois. I am coming home to claim the wonderful retirement fund you all have generated for me. $142,000,000 is quite dandy, though a round $200 million would be nicer. So perhaps I could settle for one or two more rollovers before my single ticket matches the annuitized &420 million jackpot (I will take CV of course). I guess that is what paying my fair share looks like! Guess who won't get a red cent of my winnings and who can expect a huge donation! Singing and hoops abilities are irrelevant!
As a previous poster wisely pointed out: "Every event is not dependent on the outcome of previous events"
Maybe if you flip that coin a few billion times more, you'll begin to get a better sense of the overall odds and probability.
But if you think that flipping your coin just 5 times will help prove your point, and maybe win Wednesdays Powerball, best of luck to you!
I may stop playing PB, I hardly win anything... all I play is one line with my numbers and the powerplay. I could use that extra three bucks for two additional MM tickets. The only reason I play just just one PB ticket is just in case my numbers come up, I don't want to miss out.
Without doubt, hundreds of previous jackpot winners had long losing streaks. There have been recordings of players who finally hit after
fifteen, twenty or more years of continuous playing. When your thinking about giving up on a game; that might well be your time!
Yeah, you're right... its prob worth the $6 a week to keep playing
That's awesome
and it came from your personal logic.Our pool at work had 50 qp tickets with nothing..2, (1+0's) and nothing even close to the powerball number...sad really.
That's the spirit tiger! Now get right back in the game, and don't let those "Poor Old Me" pig attitudes bring you down.
And now folks ................
a wire transfer of $152,475,000 is looming for a very lucky winner in Pennsylvania ................ after the Powerball has rolled again!
Wednesday will be interesting! Maybe even interestinger!
Might as well just buy Disneyland DP. This way no lines, no waiting!
50 lines and not one with the PB, that's sad but the law of averages is on your side. Good luck Wednesday.
tvboris,
There are many who don't trust lotteries now. If the drawings were held at 4:00 - 5:00 a.m. there'd be a whole lot more than didn't trust them.
Where did you bring them?
if a coin tossed 100 heads in a row, id want to look at the coin.
As well you should!
I had zero numbers....lol.
Don't feel bad, even the members who shared their numbers on the prediction board didn't win big.
The coin doesn't know what happened the last time it was flipped, and it doesn't know what you think will happen the next time. You can say whatever you want, but it has no affect on the outcome.
I'll take past coin flip results in to account because of chi-square distribution.
Cartmanland may be cheaper!
If your gonna win $305 million, who really cares.
What's an extra $30-40 million, just pocket change. 