Powerball Jackpot Leaps To $62 Million

The Powerball jackpot continues to move upward. Even though the grand prize was not hit Wednesday evening, 487,557 players across the nation won a total of more than $5.5 million in prizes in America's favorite game.

Because no one correctly matched all six numbers the jackpot will grow to an estimated $62 million.

The cash option for the Saturday, March 11th drawing will be an estimated $29.9 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday were 1, 5, 7, 21, 43 and the Powerball was 20. The Power Play multiplier was 5.

Three lucky players in the states of Delaware, Minnesota, and Tennessee correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $200,000.

Thirty-two players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Six additional winners of that prize category also wisely purchased the Power Play option that multiplied their win 5 times for a total of $50,000.

More than 103,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 5 Wednesday. They were able to do that by purchasing the Power Play option for one dollar. With Power Play you multiply any 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. For a limited time during the current "Power Play 10X" promotion, all prizes (except the jackpot) can be multiplied up to 10 times for the same $1 Power Play cost.

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 $21 million in tickets between Thursday and Saturday night.

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

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