Powerball Lottery Jackpot: Will It Hit $100 Million For 5th Time In 2014? Find Out Wednesday
The Powerball lottery jackpot hit $90 million after no ticket matched all six numbers Saturday night. That means just one more drawing with no jackpot winner and the 44-state lottery game will reach the $100 million mark for the fifth time in 2014, in what would be the 84th Powerball drawing of the year.
With the other nationwide lottery game, Mega Millions currently at $166 million, by the middle of next week, United States lottery players will have not one but two nine-figure jackpots to play for.
The Powerball game sold 13,347,259 tickets for Saturday’s drawing, meaning the year-to-date ticket sales for the game now exceed the 1.4 billion mark. With chances of hitting all six numbers at just one in more than 175 million, the game has seen eight jackpot winners so far in 2014. But three of those have hit jackpots of less than $100 million.
The largest jackpot of the year was a $425 million payout won by a single player, Raymond Buxton, who purchased his lottery ticket at a gas station and Subway sandwich shop in Milpitas, California. The prize remains the sixth-largest United States lottery jackpot ever won.
The September 24 Powerball drawing saw a $225 million jackpot won on September 24 — the last time anyone won a Powerball jackpot. The five drawings since came up empty, and the jackpot rose from the minimum $40 million to its current $90 million in that span of time.
Even though no one hit the Powerball jackpot Saturday, there was still $5,465,530 in prize money won, over 394,778 winning tickets. But $3 million of that total came on just two tickets, each of which matched the first five numbers, but not the Power Ball.
One of those tickets, purchased in Tennessee, came with the Power Play option activated, meaning that the ticket cost its lucky buyer $3 instead of the usual $2. But that was probably the best dollar that person ever spent, because it means she or he will collect $2 million rather than $1 million.
Another “Match 5” ticket was sold in Washington State, this time at the regular price, giving its fortunate buyer the flat $1 million payout.
To determine if you won any money in Saturday’s Powerball drawing, check your ticket against the following numbers, drawn at 10:59 p.m. in Tallahassee, Florida.
10 — 19 — 37 — 38 — 39 Power Ball 28
The cash value of Wednesday’s jackpot, to a winner who takes the Powerball prize as a single payment, is estimated at $55.9 million.
