Powerball Jackpot Goes to $61 Million

Thursday, July 16, 2009 posted 10:36 AM EDT

(Powerball) The Powerball jackpot is getting bigger. Even though the jackpot was not hit, five lucky tickets sold in Indiana (1), Florida (1), Pennsylvania (1), Tennessee (1), and Wisconsin (1) won $200,000 each by matching all 5 white ball numbers.

The jackpot for the Saturday, July 18th drawing will be $61 million with the cash option at $30.9 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 26, 50, 51, 52, 57, and the Powerball was 37. The Power Play multiplier was 5.

Fourteen tickets matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Another single ticket at that prize level also had the Power Play and had its prize multiplied by 5 for a $50,000 cash win! A total of 453,719 tickets across the nation won more than $4.5 million in prizes playing America’s favorite game.

A total of 93,162 winning Powerball tickets multiplied their prize by 5 Wednesday. Players 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. All match 5 prizes in Powerball with the Power Play are multiplied 5 times for a $1 million cash win. At the beginning of each drawing an animated spinner presents 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 $20,677,553 in Powerball and Power Play tickets between Sunday and Wednesday night.

The lotteries sold $2.56 billion in Powerball tickets in fiscal year 2009. That translates into over $743 million for worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 30 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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