Powerball grand prize climbs to $1B without a jackpot winner
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dave Colbert, from Johnstown, Pa, buys a ticket for the Saturday, Oct. 29, drawing of the Powerball lottery at a market in Prospect, Pa., Saturday’s jackpot projected winnings of an estimated $825 million is the fifth-highest in U.S. history.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Customers pay for their groceries next to the lottery ticket display showing the jackpot amount for the Saturday, Oct. 29, drawing of the Powerball lottery at a market in Prospect, Pa., Friday, Oct. 28. Saturday’s jackpot projected winnings of an estimated $825 million is the fifth-highest in U.S. history.
DES MOINES, Iowa >> The Powerball jackpot keeps getting larger because players keep losing.
It happened again Saturday night as no one matched all six numbers to win the estimated $825 million grand prize. That means the next drawing Monday night will be for a massive $1 billion, according to a statement by Powerball.
The winning numbers Saturday night were: white balls 19, 31, 40, 46, 57 and the red power ball 23.
The increased jackpot will remain the fifth-largest in U.S. history behind another Powerball prize and three Mega Millions lottery game jackpots. The biggest prize was a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot won by three ticketholders in 2016.
Although the advertised top prize will be an estimated $1 billion, that is for winners who receive their winnings through an annuity paid over 29 years. Winners almost always opt for cash, which for Monday’s drawing will be an estimated $497.3 million.
Players who missed out on the latest grand prize in the 30-year-old lottery shouldn’t immediately toss away their receipts.
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A Florida ticket holder matched all five white balls in Saturday’s drawing and increased the prize to $2 million by including the game’s “Power Play” feature. Six tickets won a $1 million prize by matching five white balls, including two in California, two in Michigan, one in Maryland and one in Texas.
Another 17 tickets won a $150,000 prize while there were 80 winners of $50,000 each. More than 3.8 million tickets won cash prizes totaling above $38 million, Powerball said.
It has been nearly three months since anyone hit all six numbers and took the lottery’s top prize, with a $206.9 million jackpot win in Pennsylvania on Aug. 3. Thanks to Powerball’s long odds of one in 292.2 million, there have now been 37 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
