Powerball Numbers Yield No Big Winners, Jackpot Bumped To $60 Million

The Powerball numbers picked Wednesday night turned up no big winners — not of the big jackpot or even the $1 million second prize. Of course, that is more likely to happen when jackpots are small and as a result, ticket sales are relatively low. Only about 13 million Powerball tickets sold for the February 26 drawing.

But with no Powerball jackpot winner for the second straight drawing, after one person won a whopping $425 million payout last week, the grand prize now creeps up to $60 million for Saturday’s game.

Wednesday’s numbers were:

11–12–17–38–42 Powerball 2

For the $425 million drawing one week ago, Powerball players bought over 91.5 million tickets in 43 states and two other jurisdictions where the game is played. But out of those 91.5 million, exactly one ticket matched the six numbers necessary to claim the grand prize jackpot. Again, not too surprising considering that there are 173,223,510 possible combinations of Powerball numbers.

The ticket was sold at a gas station in Milpitas, California, but the winner has yet to reveal her-or-himself to the world. Powerball winners in California have up to one year in which to claim their prize, but for a big winner to wait more than a week is uncommon, said lottery spokesperson Alex Traverso.

“I know if it were me, I wouldn’t want to sit on the ticket until Monday,” Traverso said last week.

But lottery officials also say there is no rush. They advise winners of large, life-changing jackpots to consult with a trusted financial consultant and even a lawyer before collecting their prizes.

The first step any lottery winner should take, however, is to sign the back of the winning ticket. All lottery tickets are “bearer documents,” meaning that whoever holds the ticket may claim the prize — whether that person bought the ticket or not. A signature on the back of the ticket is the only proof of ownership a lottery winner has.

Saturday’s $60 million jackpot will actually be worth $33.9 million to a winner who elects, as most winners do, to receive the prize as a single cash payment rather than spread out over 30 years, which is the “annuity” option.

After federal taxes, the amount will be $24,425,000. State taxes vary, and many such as California charge no state tax on lottery winnings. But if, for example, you buy your Powerball ticket in New York for Saturday’s game and you win the big prize, you will pay almost $3 million more to the state.