Powerball Jackpot: No Grand Prize Winner, But A Number Of Million-Dollar Prize Tickets Were Sold In The US

Powerball players across the U.S. had their high hopes of hitting a record $949.8 million jackpot dashed in the lottery drawing Saturday, but a number of them did win prizes with face values of $1 million or more. Tickets worth $2 million were sold in Connecticut and Texas, while tickets worth $1 million were sold in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, according to USA Today.

In Arizona alone, more than 448,000 Powerball tickets had winning combinations, totaling $4.8 million in cash prizes, Arizona State Lottery officials said. Two of the tickets were eligible for second-prize payouts of $1 million each, azcentral.com reported. Another ticket was worth $150,000, and 15 others were worth $50,000 each.

Elsewhere, one $2 million ticket and at least one $1 million ticket were sold in Connecticut, while three $1 million tickets were sold in Michigan, according to lottery officials in those states.

“[The huge jackpots are attracting] everybody … people who don’t play, infrequent players,” Maryland Lottery representative Carole Everett told the Washington Post. She said people were calling to ask “How do you play?”

The Powerball lottery jackpot has continued to climb since Nov. 4, reaching an estimated, record-shattering $1.4 billion as of Monday evening. The odds of purchasing the jackpot-winning ticket are about 1 in 292.2 million, and the next drawing is scheduled to be conducted Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. EST.

“It’s crazy how big this jackpot is,” California Lottery representative Alex Traverso told Reuters. “Buckle up: It’s going to be a crazy ride between now and Wednesday night.”