Powerball® Jackpot Up to $1.5 Billion for Saturday's Drawing
Iowa Lottery Players Won 28,677 Prizes in Wednesday's Drawing
Editor's Notes: To schedule an interview with Iowa Lottery CEO and Powerball Product Group Chair Matt Strawn, please contact Sam Martin at smartin@ialottery.com or 515-587-2521.
For continued jackpot estimates between drawings, please visit the Iowa Lottery's website at ialottery.com.
JPEG and EPS images of Iowa Lottery tickets, playslips and equipment are available at: https://ialottery.com/Pages/Pressroom/LAP_GameLogos.aspx
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If you can't open these links, visit ialottery.com and click on Press Room.
CLIVE, Iowa — Another Powerball® drawing has come and gone without a jackpot winner, setting the stage for an even larger prize on the line this weekend.
After it wasn't hit on Wednesday, the jackpot prize has now swelled to an estimated $1.5 billion annuity, $686.5 million cash option for the drawing on Saturday.
This is the fifth-largest jackpot in the game's history. It has been growing since early September, and Saturday's drawing will mark the 45th in the current jackpot run, a record for most drawings in a single jackpot cycle.
"Big jackpots create buzz across the state, and that excitement is contagious," said Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn, who also serves as chair of the Powerball Product Group. "The Iowa Lottery reminds players to play within their means and take pride in the good causes their play supports."
Prizes Won in Iowa
Iowa Lottery players won 28,677 prizes ranging from $4 to $400 in Wednesday's drawing.
There are nine prize levels in Powerball ranging from $4 up to the jackpot, so the Iowa Lottery reminds its players to be sure to check their tickets for all the
prizes they may have won. You can find a full prize payout chart, complete with odds, on
the Iowa Lottery's website.
The winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing were 25-33-53-62-66 and Powerball 17. The Power Play® multiplier was 4.
Iowa Sales For Wednesday's Drawing
Iowa Lottery players bought nearly $1.75 million in Powerball tickets for last night's drawing, including $1.24 million in tickets on Wednesday alone. But the average Powerball purchase in Iowa for Wednesday's drawing remained around $6, or about three plays per ticket. Lottery officials were pleased to see that many Iowans joined in the fun while keeping their play at a responsible level.
Why Does 'Coverage' Matter?
By tracking ticket sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of the game's possible number combinations have been purchased for a drawing, a measure known as coverage.
Coverage for Wednesday's drawing was estimated at about 25 percent. For Saturday's drawing, the estimate is about 41 percent.
Powerball has 292.2 million possible number combinations, which is why the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. Higher coverage means more combinations have been played and can increase the chance the jackpot will be won, but it does not guarantee a winner.
I Don't Know How To Buy A Ticket
As the Powerball jackpot grows, many first-time players are buying tickets and reaching out to the lottery with questions about how to play.
The simplest option is to visit an Iowa Lottery retailer and ask for an easy-pick Powerball play, in which the lottery terminal randomly selects the numbers and prints the ticket. More than 91 percent of the tickets purchased for Wednesday's drawing were easy-pick plays.
How-to-play videos are available on the Iowa Lottery website. Information about office pools and other group play, which typically increase during large jackpot runs,
also is available.
Please Play Responsibly
The Iowa Lottery reminds players that Powerball is meant to be entertainment. Setting a budget and playing within your means helps keep the experience fun. It only takes one $2 ticket to win.
For more information, contact Sam Martin, Iowa Lottery External Relations,
at 515-587-2521 or smartin@ialottery.com.
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