Sunday, April 16, 2006

Powerball paid off big in multiple ways Wednesday night. Not only was there
one winning jackpot ticket worth a whopping $224.2 million sold in Missouri,
but also there was a ticket that won $800,000 with Power Play in
Pennsylvania! In addition, nine other fortunate players won $200,000 for
matching 5 white ball numbers in the states of Arizona (1), Idaho (1),
Kansas (1), Louisiana (1), Minnesota (1), New Mexico (1), Pennsylvania (1),
Tennessee (1), and West Virginia (1).
The jackpot winner will now have to decide between the 29-year, 30-payment
annuity, and the cash option worth $102,868,636. The winner will have 60
days after their ticket is validated to make that decision.

The jackpot for the Saturday, April 15th drawing will be $15 million with
the cash option at $6.9 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 16, 26, 34, 35, 41, and the
Powerball was 24. The Power Play multiplier was 4.

Forty-eight players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won
$10,000. Twelve additional players of that prize level wisely purchased the
Power Play and had their prize multiplied by 4 for a $40,000 cash win! A
total of 1,107,435 players across the nation won more than $10.4 million in
prizes playing America's favorite game.

More than 145,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 4
Wednesday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for
$1. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings from 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 $46 million in tickets between Sunday and
Wednesday night.

The lotteries have sold approximately $2.4 billion in Powerball tickets so
far in fiscal year 2006. That translates into approximately $700 million for
worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 28 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S.
Virgin Islands.