In the recent Powerball drawing on Saturday, August 8, five tickets were just one red Powerball away from clinching the coveted jackpot. With no overall winner this time, the Powerball jackpot continues to roll over for a remarkable 42nd consecutive drawing, edging ever closer to the staggering $1 billion mark.
The Powerball numbers drawn on Saturday were 5, 9, 35, 54, 63, and the red Powerball 7. According to the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), five players successfully matched all five white balls but did not secure the red Powerball.
Of the Match 5 winners, four tickets earned $1 million each. Meanwhile, the fifth ticket, purchased in Texas, opted for the additional $1 Power Play feature, boosting their winnings to $2 million. The other winning tickets were sold in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and New York.
Participants in Powerball face the challenge of selecting five white balls from a set ranging from 1 to 69, while the Powerball itself is selected from a separate pool of 1 to 26. The odds of successfully matching all six drawn numbers stand at 1 in 292.2 million.
MUSL manages Powerball for 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and, since late July, the United Kingdom.
Jackpot Exceeds $900 Million
No one has won the Powerball jackpot since May 2, when two tickets from Florida and Texas shared a $20 million prize. The upcoming drawing on Monday, August 10, will mark the 43rd drawing in this ongoing jackpot series.
The current jackpot is estimated at $905 million, making it the eighth-largest prize in the history of Powerball, which originated in 1992. This amount ranks 15th all-time among U.S. lottery jackpots.
Should a ticket match all six numbers during Monday’s drawing, the winner can choose between receiving the $905 million in 29 annual payments or opting for a lump sum cash payout estimated at $391.9 million.
Powerball drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 PM EST from the draw studio in Florida.
Winners from Saturday
The August 8 Powerball drawing yielded five Match 5 winners, along with 44 tickets that matched four white balls plus the red Powerball, winning the game’s third-tier prize of $50,000. Out of these, twelve opted for the $1 Power Play, tripling their prize payouts to $150,000 as the Power Play multiplier landed on 3X.
The Power Play feature multiplies non-jackpot winnings by factors of 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or even 10X. However, it’s important to note that the Match 5 + Power Play is capped at 2X, ensuring the maximum payout remains $2 million. The 10X multiplier is only applicable when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or below.
For those contemplating the odds of winning, it’s important to understand how challenging 1 in 292.2 million is—a far worse chance compared to the likelihood of dying in a plane crash, which is generally estimated at 1 in 11 million over a lifetime of flying.