Powerball Jackpot Reaches $75 Million

Even though the grand prize was not awarded Wednesday evening, a lucky player in Tennessee won a $1 million cash prize with the Power Play option. A total of 378,188 players across the nation won more than $4.6 million in prizes playing America's favorite game.

Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Wednesday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $75 million!

The cash option for the Saturday, December 3rd drawing will be an estimated $36.4 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 19, 23, 27, 42, 52 and the Powerball was 1. The Power Play multiplier was 5.

Three winning tickets in Delaware, Indiana, and Minnesota matched all 5 white numbers for a $200,000 prize. A player in Tennessee not only won at this prize level but also wisely purchased the Power Play option which multiplied the $200,000 by 5 for a total win of $1 million.

Twenty-eight players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. One additional player who won at this prize level also purchased the Power Play and had the $10,000 prize multiplied by 5 to $50,000!

More than 55,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prizes by 5 Wednesday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for one dollar. With Power Play you multiply your Powerball winnings from 2 to 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 $17 million in tickets between Sunday and Wednesday night.

The lotteries sold more than $2 billion in Powerball tickets in FY05. That translates into more than $600 million for worthwhile state projects.

Powerball is now played in 27 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.