Powerball Jackpot Rises to $50 Million

The Powerball jackpot is on the move. No one hit the jackpot Saturday, but 424,596 players across the nation won a total of more than $3.4 million in prizes in America's favorite Game.

Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $50 million.

The cash option for the Wednesday, July 5th drawing will be an estimated $22.5 million.

The numbers drawn Saturday were 2, 31, 35, 40, 42, and the Powerball was 34. The Power Play multiplier was 3.

Two tickets correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $200,000. These winning tickets were purchased in South Dakota (1), and Tennessee (1).

Twenty-three tickets matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Six additional winners at that prize level also had the Power Play option multiplying their winnings 3 times for a total of $30,000.

More than 81,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 3 Saturday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for one dollar. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings by 2-5 times, except for the jackpot. At the beginning of each drawing a wheel is spun to select that night's multiplier.

Players should carefully check their tickets after every draw. Even if there are no jackpot winners there are always tens of thousands of winners at other prize levels.

Players purchased more than $20.3 million in tickets between Wednesday and Saturday night. The lotteries sold more than $2.8 billion in Powerball tickets in fiscal year 2006. That translates into approximately $800 million for worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 29 states, the District of Col

2006-07-04