Current Powerball Jackpot is Largest in Nearly One Year
MIDDLETOWN, Pa., Feb. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Lottery retailers are reporting brisk ticket sales for tonight's $317 million Powerball® drawing, featuring the game's largest jackpot offering in nearly a year. The cash prize is worth $220.6 million.
The current jackpot is the highest it has been since it was hit on Feb. 19, 2014, when one ticket sold in California won $425.3 million. Numerous jackpots of lesser amounts have been won since then.
If won tonight, the prize would rank as the 11th-largest Powerball jackpot. The game's record jackpot is a $590.5 million prize won in Florida in May 2013.
In Pennsylvania, tickets are sold until 9:59 p.m. on drawing nights. The drawing takes place at 10:59 p.m. Players are advised purchase their tickets early to avoid any last-minute rush and to always play responsibly.
A few Powerball facts of interest:
- Powerball and Powerball with Power Play tickets were selling at a rate of about 1,900 tickets per-minute as of noon today, statewide.
- Also as of noon today, the Pennsylvania Lottery had sold nearly $47 million in Powerball and Powerball with Power Play tickets since the current jackpot run began in early December. That translates into over $14 million in funding for benefits to older Pennsylvanians just from this jackpot run.
- Ticket sales have been rising all week. Powerball sales were approximately $531,000 on Sunday, $683,000 on Monday and $1.45 million on Tuesday.
- Since this jackpot run started, Powerball players in Pennsylvania have won over $8.7 million in cash prizes, including four $1 million prizes (from the Dec. 6, Dec. 17 and Jan. 17 drawings).
- The Pennsylvania Lottery has sold 17 jackpot-winning tickets since joining the multi-state game in 2002.
- The most recent jackpot-winning Powerball ticket sold in Pennsylvania was for the June 22, 2013, drawing, and was worth $131.5 million. A Delaware County woman claimed the $77.4 million cash prize about a month later.
- The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175,223,510.
- If you hold the winning ticket, you should immediately sign the back of the ticket and put it in a safe place. Then, contact the Lottery at 717-702-8146 during business hours to arrange to bring the ticket to Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County, for validation.
For the convenience of players who wish to pool their ticket purchases with friends, coworkers or family members, Pool Play forms are available at palottery.com.
How to play Powerball: Players pay $2 and select five white balls from the first set of 59 numbers plus a single red ball, the Powerball, from a second set of 35 numbers. Players may select their own numbers using a Powerball playslip, or they may opt for computer-selected quick picks. Players must match all five numbers drawn plus the Powerball number to win the jackpot. There also are eight additional ways for players to win a cash prize.
Purchasing the $1 Power Play option allows a winner to increase lower-tier prizes by a factor of 2, 3, 4 or 5, depending on the Power Play number drawn. The jackpot and the Match 5 prize are not multiplied. The Match 5 prize with the Power Play option is worth $2 million. It is $1 million without Power Play.
Powerball is sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Pennsylvania, tickets are sold until 9:59 p.m. on drawing nights, Wednesday and Saturday.
About the Pennsylvania Lottery: The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception in 1971, the Pennsylvania Lottery has contributed more than $24.7 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free transit and reduced-fare shared rides; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; long-term living services; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including full- and part-time senior centers throughout the state.
The Pennsylvania Lottery reminds players to check every ticket, every time. Players must be 18 or older. Please play responsibly. For help with a gambling problem, call 1-800-848-1880.
For drawings results, winning numbers, winners' stories and to subscribe to the Lottery's RSS news feed, visit www.palottery.com. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/palottery or follow us at www.twitter.com/palottery.
Media contacts: Gary Miller or Lauren Piccolo, 717-702-8008
Editor's Note: For Powerball historic information and jackpot rankings, visit www.powerball.com and select "Press Contacts," then select the link for "Powerball General Information."
SOURCE Pennsylvania Lottery
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