News writer
In an unusual bout of luck, four states won $1 million prizes in Powerball on Saturday’s drawing. This means that winners in four states matched five white ball numbers. No one additionally matched the red powerball, so there were no winners of the $55 million jackpot. The winning numbers were 28-37-42-50-53 and Powerball 19. There was a Power Play multiplier of 2, but nobody claimed this $2 million prize.
The new jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing stands at $64 million.
Where did they win?
The $1 million winners came from:
California: The winner bought a ticket from Cash N Dash Financial Services in Gardena, just outside Los Angeles. In California, the lottery payout system is pari-mutuel, so the winner takes a percentage of the overall prizes and expenses. In this case, the winner will bring home $377,000. The winner has 180 days after the draw to claim their prize at any California Lottery District Office in person or by mail.
Iowa: The $1 million ticket was sold at Kimmes Denison Country Store in the town of Denison. In history, 200 lottery players in Iowa have won $1 million or more, according to KCCI Des Moines. The winner has 180 days to claim their prize in person at the Lottery office in Clive, Iowa.
Massachusetts: The $1 million ticket was purchased at the South Shore gas station in Pembroke. The winner must claim their prize within one year. They must make their claim in person at one of the state’s lottery locations.
Maryland: A $1 million ticket was purchased in Maryland at Chesapeake Liquors in Clinton. The winner has 182 days to claim their prize at the lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
Why are multiple wins unusual?
At the moment, the Powerball jackpot is relatively low. Though it clearly happens, we typically don’t see multiple $1 million-plus wins until the jackpot has been climbing for some time.
For example, in the last rollover series toward the massive $1.787 billion jackpot on September 6, there were three $1 million-tier winners in three states (Arizona, New York, and Virginia) on August 27 - when the jackpot was already $861 million. The current jackpot comprises only 7% of that.
The trends tend to skyrocket when huge jackpots are at play, mainly because there’s a significant jump in ticket sales. In the subsequent drawing leading up to the billion-dollar jackpot, there were nine $1 million-winners out of six states on August 30. In the next drawing, there were 11 $1 million-winners out of nine states. In the last drawing of the rollover, there were 18 $1 million-winners in 13 states.
Since the jackpot reset on Monday, September 8, there have been no $1 million-tier winners, until Saturday, when they jumped - rather unusually - to four.
There was also one $2 million Power Play winner out of Washington state on September 10th.
Does this forecast new trends?
It could just be sheer luck - and it most likely is.
There’s also a possibility that sales aren’t flagging as much as usual after massive jackpot resets. We don’t have fiscal year revenue numbers yet, but we anticipate a huge spike in sales in the run-up to the $1.787 billion jackpot, followed by a gargantuan dip. But perhaps the momentum is building back up faster than usual.
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