The Powerball jackpot is going up again.
Nobody matched all six numbers in Wednesday night’s $550 million drawing, pushing the grand prize to a projected $640 million for Saturday night, the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history and fifth largest in the game’s existence.
The winning numbers were 4, 19, 23, 25, 49 and Powerball 14. Seven tickets matched five numbers, according to the Powerball website, including a $2 million winner in Virginia.
Both of the nation’s major lottery games, without jackpot winners since last fall, are flush with cash.
The Mega Millions jackpot has swelled to a projected $750 million — the fifth largest in lottery history and the game’s second largest ever — after Tuesday night’s drawing didn’t produce a winner. The next drawing is Friday night.
Nine tickets matched five numbers in Tuesday’s drawing, with one ticket, sold in Florida, worth $2 million because that player purchased the optional Megaplier, according to a Mega Millions news release. The other eight tickets will each pay out $1 million.
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Mega Millions has gone 34 drawings without a winner since September, when a $119 million jackpot was won in Wisconsin. Friday’s roll equals that of the longest in game history – after 35 drawings in 2016, a $536 million jackpot was awarded in Indiana.
The Powerball jackpot hasn’t been won since Sept. 16, a $94.6 million prize in New York — also 34 drawings ago.
Both jackpots are far from the largest U.S. lottery prize — a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot split by three winners in 2016.
The jackpots promoted by lotteries are the prize winnings of winners who take an annuity option, in which prizes are paid out over 30 years. Most winners opt for the cash option, now $478.7 million for Powerball and $550.6 million for Mega Millions.
Powerball and Mega Millions are played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball is also offered in Puerto Rico.
Contributing: The Associated Press
2021-01-13 22:02:42
