Powerball Jackpot Rises to $100 Million

UNITED STATES – (PRESS RELEASE) -- The Powerball jackpot continues to grow to the delight of players all over the country. Even though the grand prize was not hit Wednesday evening, 503,503 players across the nation won a total of more than $5 million in prizes in America's favorite Game.

Because no one correctly matched all six numbers the jackpot will grow to an estimated $100 million for Saturday night's drawing.

The cash option for the Saturday, May 13th drawing will be an estimated $44.7 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday were 3, 4, 11, 37, 44 and the Powerball was 24. The Power Play multiplier was 3.

Eight lucky players in DC (1), Kansas (1), Louisiana (1), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), Oregon (1), Rhode Island (1), and Tennessee (1) correctly matched the 5 white numbers and won $200,000.

Twenty-Eight players matched 4 white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Three additional winners of that prize category also wisely purchased the Power Play option that multiplied their win 3 times for a total of $30,000!

More than 87,000 winning Powerball players multiplied their prize by 3 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.

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 $21.1 million in tickets between Sunday and Wednesday night.

The lotteries have sold approximately $2.5 billion in Powerball tickets so far in fiscal year 2006. That translates into approximately $725 million for worthwhile state projects.