Three Iowa Tickets Won Prizes of $50,000 Last Night!

Iowa Lottery players won more than 85,000 prizes in last night's Powerball drawing, including three tickets that were one number away from having a share of the jackpot and each won $50,000. The game’s giant jackpot ended up being even higher than the final estimates leading into the drawing, and the top prize was won by a ticket purchased in Massachusetts.    

JACKPOT AMOUNT & WINNING NUMBERS

Strong sales nationwide pushed last night's jackpot to $758.7 million annuity, or $480.5 million lump-sum option. The winning numbers in last night's Powerball jackpot drawing were: 6-7-16-23-26 and Powerball 4. The Power Play number was 4. A total of 85,440 plays purchased by Iowa Lottery players won prizes in the drawing.

IOWA’S BIG WINNERS

Three tickets purchased in Iowa came within one number of having at least a share of the jackpot. They each won a $50,000 prize by matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball. The tickets were purchased in different areas of the state:

Retailer Name                               Address                                 City
Ampride All Round Truck Plaza     3243 Fifth Ave. S.                   Fort Dodge
Casey’s                                          502 Main St.                           Dakota City
Kwik Star                                       100 W. Gilbert Drive                Evansdale 

POWERBALL SALES IN IOWA

Iowa Lottery players bought more than $4.7 million in Powerball tickets for last night’s drawing, including more than $3 million in tickets yesterday alone. During yesterday’s busiest stretch from about 5-6 p.m., Powerball tickets were selling at more than $7,800 per minute in Iowa. But  the average Iowa Powerball purchase yesterday remained around $5, or about 3 plays per ticket. We're glad to see that Iowans played at a fun level and didn’t go overboard.

EASY PICKS VS. MANUAL PLAYS

It's a debate that's been around as long as the Powerball game itself: Easy pick or manual play? More than 90 percent of all of the plays purchased by Iowa Lottery players for last night's drawing were easy picks, meaning that the lottery terminal automatically generated the numbers on the ticket. That's a higher percentage than we often see, and likely speaks to the convenience factor of easy picks. Typically about 70 percent of all Powerball plays in Iowa are easy picks, with the remainder being number combinations that players choose themselves.

A NOTE ABOUT ‘COVERAGE’

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 sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing. About 54 percent of all the possible combinations were purchased in last night's drawing.

 

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Sam. Great point. That's precisely why we used rounded figures, saying "around $5" and "about 3 plays per ticket." Whenever you're using averages, the figures will be rounded off.

[SAM]

But the average Iowa Powerball purchase yesterday remained around $5, or about 3 plays per ticket. AT $2.00 EACH HOW DOES 2 GO INTO 5????????????????

[Mary Neubauer]

Hello. I've blogged a couple different times this month about the long-running lottery jackpot investigation and the outcomes from that. Lotteries have learned a tremendous amount from that case that has allowed us to develop and put in place additional safeguards, separation of duties and security procedures. As long as human beings are involved in any process, it will never be perfect, but our job is to have the best procedures in place that we can designed to stay ahead of those who would try to commit crime -- and then catch them when they do, as occurred in the jackpot investigation case. I do not know what your reference is to when it comes to bonuses. We receive no pay bonuses here at the Iowa Lottery. Lottery proceeds today go to benefit Iowa veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, and the many vital programs (education, law enforcement, agriculture, etc.) that receive funding through the state General Fund.

[J Noah]

personally,, i'd like to know how the lottery can guarantee their drawings aren't rigged, considering a man was just convicted of doing that.. and maybe explanations as to why profits originally guaranteed to help vets, schools, etc has magically found some of its way to lottery officials bonuses,, what the heck,, one more... how is it legal to tax lottery winnings when only cash payment to purchase is excepted,, with ALREADY taxed money,,,?

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Izmaud. Through the years, TV stations have televised lottery drawing results as a public service to their viewers, who they know are interested in the information. Powerball results are still televised in many markets. But with space and time constraints, details about other smaller games are no longer televised. The good news is that with the Internet, text messaging and our lottery app, there are many additional ways today that you can find that information. Thanks for checking in with us today!