No Powerball Jackpot Winner Saturday, But You Still Might Have Won Cash — Here’s How
The Powerball lottery drawing Saturday night produced no big winner of the $60 million jackpot that was up for grabs — but one lucky lottery player in Texas will claim a $1 million second prize. There are still eight other ways that you might have won some money in the Powerball drawing.
Of course, if you didn’t play, you didn’t win. But if you bought at least one of the nearly 13 million tickets sold for the October 4 Powerball game, you might have some cash coming your way. In fact, there were 388,370 winning tickets sold for the 44-state lottery — which is now played in Puerto Rico as well. The U.S. island territory participated in just its second Powerball drawing after joining the game — also played in Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands — with the October 1 drawing.
In all, about 3 percent of all tickets sold were good for at least some level of prize.
“To win the jackpot required matching all five of the first “white ball” numbers, as well as the separately drawn “Power Ball” number. The odds against that are a whopping 175,223,510 to one.”
Not too promising, right? But your odds of winning any prize at all in Powerball are only 32-to-one. That’s a bit better.
Matching the first five numbers, but not the Power Ball, is good for a $1 million prize. Your odds there are still pretty long — 5,153,633 to one to be exact.
Here are eight other ways you might have won, with your chances of winning each type of prize on any particular, single ticket.
• Match four of the first five numbers plus the Power Ball to win $10,000. Your chances are one in 648,976.
• Match four of the first five numbers but not the Power Ball to win $100. Your chances are one in 19,088.
• Match three of the first five numbers plus the Power Ball, which also wins you $100. But the odds are slightly better — one in 12,245.
• Match three of the first five numbers alone for a $7 prize. The odds are 360 to one.
• Match two of the first five numbers plus the Power Ball for $7, as well. Your chances of that combination are one in 706.
• Finally, there are two ways to win the minimum $4 prize, by matching the Power Ball number, either with or without matching one of the first five numbers. Odds of matching the Power Ball alone are 55 to one, and 110 to one of matching the Power Ball and one other number.
Okay, let’s see what you won. Here are the winning Powerball numbers for Saturday, October 4.
13 — 18 — 24 — 25 — 33 Power Ball 31.
If you play Powerball in California, the prize amounts will vary due to that state’s pari-mutuel payout system on all prizes other than the jackpot. You can also increase prize payouts by paying $3 for a Powerball ticket rather than $2, which activates the Power Play multiplier.
