Update on Tuesday, Oct. 5: Last night's giant Powerball jackpot was won with a ticket purchased in California. And as I had referenced yesterday, strong sales across the country pushed the actual jackpot total past even the latest estimates made in advance. The final amount was $699.8 million annuity, $496 million lump-sum option. That's the 5th-largest prize in the Powerball game and the 7th-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
The giant Powerball® jackpot continues to climb, now at an estimated $685 million annuity, $485.5 million lump-sum amount, for tonight’s drawing. The official estimate was raised earlier today to its current amount, driven by strong sales during the weekend across the country.
The big prize is now the 6th-largest jackpot in the history of the Powerball game and the 8th-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. But in general, players buy the majority of tickets the day of a drawing, so it’s possible that tonight’s final jackpot amount will be higher than the advance estimates.
The Powerball jackpot has been growing for nearly four months. It was last won June 5 with a ticket purchased in Florida.
Drawing Details, And An Iowa Ticket That Came SO Close
The winning numbers in Saturday’s Powerball drawing were: 28-38-42-47-52 and Powerball 1. The Power Play number was 2. An Iowa ticket was just one number away from that night’s big prize and won $100,000.
The ticket initially matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the purchase, which multiplied the prize to $100,000.
The $100,000-winning ticket was purchased at the Fareway supermarket at 1325 Albia Road in Ottumwa.
What Would $685 Million Look Like?
We calculated this for fun. Here is what $685 million in $1 bills would look like stacked up or stretched end to end:
A $1 bill is 0.0043 inches thick. That means $685 million in $1 bills would stretch 46.49 miles high. That’s way up there, but wouldn’t quite reach into space, which depending upon the definition used, begins at either 50 miles above sea level or 62 miles up.
And if they were lined up end to end, $685 million in $1 bills (each 6.14 inches long) would stretch for more than 66,380 miles. That’s enough to circle earth’s equator (24,901 miles) more than 2.5 times.
But could you actually get 685 million in $1 bills? Maybe. According to estimates, there are about 11.7 billion $1 bills in circulation in the United States.
General Reminders About How To Play
- Giant jackpots bring a lot of first-timers and occasional players into the Powerball game. For those who want a refresher (or crash course), the Iowa Lottery keeps how-to-play videos on its website to provide the key points in just a couple minutes. Here is a direct link to that page: https://www.ialottery.com/Pages/Multimedia/HowToPlay.aspx
- The deadline in Iowa to buy tickets for a Powerball drawing is at 8:59 p.m. the night of the drawing. If you buy a ticket after that deadline, it will be for an upcoming drawing and you won’t be in the running for that night’s giant prize.
- And, please remember to play responsibly. You only need one ticket to have a chance to win.
Hi, David. Double Play is a new feature added to Powerball by some lotteries that sell the game. There are 48 lotteries that offer Powerball as a product and 13 of them added the Double Play option starting in August. We are not offering that feature here in Iowa, as the timing of its go-live date did not work in our project timeline. If you are in a state where you can buy the Double Play option for an extra $1 per play, here is how it works: A separate Double Play drawing is held after the Powerball drawing each night. The numbers from your Powerball ticket are also good for the Double Play drawing. Hence the name, because you play the same set of numbers twice. The top prize in the Double Play drawing is $10 million and there are smaller prizes available as well. If we add the Double Play option at some point in the future here in Iowa, we will notify our players about that.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | October 05, 2021 at 08:30 AM
Is double play available in Iowa and how exactly does it work?
Posted by: David Ewart | October 04, 2021 at 10:51 PM