Powerball Jackpot Climbs to $53 Million

Sunday, December 17, 2006 posted 07:38 AM EST

Powerball will climb to an estimated $53 million for Wednesday's draw as the grand prize was not hit Saturday evening. Even though the jackpot was not hit, one lucky ticket from Pennsylvania won $800,000 cash with the Power Play option! Two other lucky tickets sold in Arizona and Tennessee won $200,000 each for matching all 5 white ball numbers.

The jackpot for the Wednesday, December 20th drawing will be $53 million with the cash option at $25.9 million.

The numbers drawn Saturday evening were 5, 17, 28, 36, 51, and the Powerball was 5. The Power Play multiplier was 4.

Seventeen tickets matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Five additional players of that prize level wisely purchased the Power Play and had their prize multiplied by 4 for a $40,000 cash win! A total of 495,212 players across the nation won more than $5.1 million in prizes playing America's favorite game.

More than 102,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 4 Saturday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for $1. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings from 2-5 times, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.

Players should carefully check their tickets after every draw. Even if there are no jackpot winners there are always tens of thousands of winners at other prize levels.

Players purchased more than $19.9 million in tickets between Thursday and Saturday night.

The lotteries sold $2.8 billion in Powerball tickets in fiscal year 2006. That translates into over $800 million for worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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