Saturday’s Powerball jackpot will be worth an estimated $20 million since no one matched all 6 of the numbers in last night’s drawing.
Wednesday’s winning numbers were 11-26-31-34-52. The Powerball was 14 and the multiplier was 2.
Two tickets, sold in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, matched the first five numbers only to win $400,000 each.
Colorado’s top prize was $200 each for 35 Power Play tickets that matched other number combinations.
Powerball was created in 1992 and launched in Colorado in 2001.
It’s now played in 29 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Florida Lottery is busy with behind-the-scenes preparations for Powerball. Tickets go on sale in Florida on January 4th. The first drawing is January 7th.
Lottery spokeswoman Jackie Barreiros says computers are getting software downloads so they’ll be able to sell the tickets and workers will be putting up Powerball billboards in the coming weeks.
When Florida joins the game, Powerball will include 30 states, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.
Barreiros says Florida’s preparations are right on track so far. She says the state is trying to get the word out about how the game works and how you win.
Jackpots currently start at $15 million, but that will be increased to $20 million when Florida players start buying tickets in January.
Barreiros says the Lottery Department expects Lotto sales to drop off when Powerball begins, but the agency is confident players will come back to Lotto. She says workers will be pulling down Lotto billboards and replacing them with Powerball signs, but that doesn’t mean Lotto is going away.
Each Powerball ticket will cost $1. You’ll have an option to pay an extra $1 to multiply the non-jackpot winnings.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 146 million. Good luck!
