The early details show that Iowa Lottery players won nearly 225,000 prizes in tonight’s world-record Powerball® jackpot drawing, and the game’s giant top prize ended up being even higher than the latest estimates leading into the drawing.
Strong sales nationwide pushed tonight’s jackpot to a world-record $1.586 billion annuity, or $983.6 million cash option. We’ll have full details tomorrow – including the locations where the big winning tickets were sold in Iowa and whether there was a jackpot winner anywhere in the country.
Here’s a first look at tonight’s drawing and our results here in Iowa.
The winning numbers in tonight’s Powerball jackpot drawing were: 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. The Power Play® number was 2.
A total of 224,656 Powerball plays purchased by Iowa Lottery players won prizes, including seven tickets that came within one number of having at least a share of the jackpot. One of those tickets won a $2 million prize. The ticket initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize, but the person who bought the ticket also added the Power Play to the purchase, which multiplied the prize to $2 million.
Six other Iowa tickets also were one number away from the jackpot, matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball. Three of those tickets each won a $50,000 prize, while three others each won a prize of $100,000. The difference again was the Power Play option, with the $100,000-winning tickets having the Power Play added to them.
Over the past several days, it really has felt like we were all part of one big conversation. At the lottery, we extend huge thanks to our players and retailers for being of this shared moment. It’s been a busy time, but we’ve all had some fun and our joint efforts have made a difference right here at home by raising additional lottery proceeds for state causes.
Lottery players here in Iowa bought more than $12 million in Powerball tickets for tonight’s drawing, including more than $6.2 million in tickets today alone. During today’s busiest stretch from about 5-6 p.m., Powerball tickets were selling at nearly $13,800 per minute in Iowa. However, the average Iowa Powerball purchase today was about $7, or three to four plays per ticket. We’re glad to see that people had fun playing and didn’t go overboard.
How do the sales figures for tonight’s drawing compare to those for Saturday’s drawing, when the jackpot had already set a U.S. record at $947.9 million? Iowa Lottery players bought more than $8.6 million in Powerball tickets for Saturday’s drawing, including more than $4.4 million in tickets that day alone. Sales peaked at about $7,900 per minute on Saturday. So, total sales for tonight’s world-record Powerball drawing were nearly 40 percent higher than those for the drawing just four days earlier.
The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million because there are about 292.2 million ways you can combine the numbers in the game to make a play. By tracking nationwide sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing – something called the coverage rate. Nearly 89 percent of all the combinations were covered in tonight’s drawing.
Thanks for your comments, Linda. When the jackpot gets really high like it has been this month, we do sometimes hear the comment that you've made. But people's behavior does not reflect that sentiment. Sales follow the jackpot up -- the higher the jackpot goes, the higher sales go. I think people are voting with their pocketbooks on this one.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | January 14, 2016 at 10:38 AM
Hi, Lyle. That is simply the way that the prizes within the game are structured. As you can see, there are four "sections" of prize levels -- the $4 level, the $7 level, the $100 level and the upper prize levels.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | January 14, 2016 at 10:36 AM
If you have the power ball it's $ 4.00, if you have the power ball and 1 number it's still only $ 4.00, why is that not more?
Posted by: Lyle Wulf | January 14, 2016 at 08:41 AM
I have several things i would love to express but ill keep it simple..this lotto prize should NEVER be able to get this high. Imagine that the cash option alone is enough for every person in the U.S. to have 3 million (approximately) EACH. thats more then enough to live comfortable and solve the countries problem with all the needy, hard working & yes..a little more for the wealthy. What is wrong with you people??? What 1 10 or even 100 people NEED this much $??? I play the lottery and at this CRAZY prize amount would GLADLY give my permission to not have a drawing and spread this money around to EVERYONE in the US. Rules & regulations should be to take care of our country and to ALL the people who make it great.
Posted by: linda | January 14, 2016 at 02:41 AM