The Powerball multi-jurisdictional lottery continues to see its jackpot rise, with the jackpot estimated to hit $200 million this coming Saturday, as there were no winners in the Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 drawing.
The estimated jackpot will be $200 million for the annuity jackpot; the lottery estimates the cash jackpot to be $125.1 million.
Although there were no big winners in the drawing, there were winners in a number of categories. You can see the table of winners at the bottom of the page.
The balls picked for the Jan. 25 Powerball drawing were: 5-33-41-54-59 with a Powerball of 13. Remember, there are no PowerPlay multipliers any longer, as those are "set."
For those who don't understand how the Power Play feature works, it is an optional feature that allows a Powerball winner to increase their original prize amount. It applies all the prize except for the jackpot. Powerball winners can multiply their Powerball prizes, but instead of the Power Play multiplier being randomly chosen before each draw, as was done in the past, with the Jan. 15, 2012 changes, the multiplier amount is set (see above and do the math). A player must choose the Power Play option for an extra $1 when they buy their Powerball ticket.
The changes made on Jan. 15 not only affected Power Play, but also the odds, which are now slightly lower, and increased the entry fee to $2 from $1, which increases the "average" lottery win, and which will undeniably lead to an eventual new record set for a lottery. It also differentiates Powerball more from Mega Millions.
Powerball drawings are held Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time. The game currently uses a double matrix system, just like Mega Millions. Players pick 5 numbers from a set of 59 (white balls) and one number from a set of 35 red balls (Powerballs). Each selection of six numbers costs players $2 for the base game. The official cutoff time for ticket sales is one hour before drawings; some jurisdictions cut off sales earlier.
Powerball is sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game, just as its rival Mega Millions (which is sold in 43 jurisdictions, many of which overlap). The jackpot is paid as a 30-payment annuity (Mega Millions uses a 26-payment annuity); players may choose cash (in either lottery) instead.
The difference between an annuity payout and a cash payout is significant and reflects the fact that interest from the unpaid funds is used to generate the extra money for the annuity. For example, the $44 million drawing scheduled for Sat. Jan 7, 2012 had a cash value of $27.9 million.
Here is the table of winners. PB = Powerball.
| Prize Level |
Winners | Prize | PowerPlay Winners |
PowerPlay Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-of-5 + PB | 0 | $170 Million | - | - |
| 5-of-5 | 0 | $1,000,000 | 0 | $2,000,000 |
| 4-of-5 + PB | 4 | $10,000 | 0 | $40,000 |
| 4-of-5 | 129 | $100 | 23 | $200 |
| 3-of-5 + PB | 216 | $100 | 54 | $200 |
| 3-of-5 | 6,844 | $7 | 1,587 | $14 |
| 2-of-5 + PB | 3,683 | $7 | 794 | $14 |
| 1-of-5 + PB | 23,613 | $4 | 5,240 | $12 |
| 0-of-5 + PB | 45,298 | $4 | 10,192 | $12 |
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
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