Written by Taylor Fourier
Earlier this week a winning Powerball ticket was sold at the San Diego Chevron station located on Linda Vista Road. The winning ticket is valued at $2,768,497. The ticket matched five numbers – 4-19-23-25-49 – missing only the Powerball number, 14.
If the Powerball number had matched, the ticket would’ve been worth $556.7 million.
Another winning ticket, which was also missing the Powerball number, was sold in San Jose, California.
As stated on the California State Lottery website, Powerball’s weekly prize amounts are pari-mutuel, meaning that fixed prizes will vary depending on ticket sales and number of winners.
Other $1 million Powerball tickets were sold in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and Texas. An individual in Virginia paid for the Power Play option, increasing the ticket’s value from $1 million to $2 million. A Powerball ticket that includes an additional $1 Power Play option increases non-grand prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times. The actual multiplier amount is determined preceding each drawing.
As Wednesday marked the 34th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner, the prize has ballooned to approximately $640 million for this Saturday’s drawing.
Just as the Powerball keeps rising, Mega Millions, another multi-state lottery game, has also been growing. This week’s Mega Million grand prize is estimated to be valued at $750 million, the 5th-largest in U.S. history. This week also marks the second time that both national lottery jackpots eclipse the $500 million amount.
Earlier this year on January 8, a Mega Millions ticket was sold at a National City supermarket, and that ticket was valued at $576,869.
A total of 48 U.S. states participate in the Powerball game. The probability of winning any prize amount is estimated at 1:25. The probability of winning the Powerball Grand Prize is 1:292 million.
