The fervor over Mega Millions may be over. But this weekend’s Powerball jackpot is certainly not something PA Lottery players should turn a blind eye towards.
Tonight’s jackpot is worth approximately $750 million. While that is roughly half the Mega Millions jackpot, it is still the fourth-largest lottery jackpot ever. It is also the third-largest in Powerball history.
Here are the winning numbers and the Power Play for Oct. 27:
Numbers: 8-12-13-19-27
Powerball: 4
Power Play: 3X
How to play Powerball
Each Powerball ticket costs $2. However, for an extra buck, you can activate the Power Play. The Power Play is drawn along with the numbers and functions as a multiplier for prize amounts.
Let’s be abundantly clear though–the Power Play does not apply to the jackpot. If the Power Play is 3X tonight, you are still winning $750 million, not $2.2 billion.
However, for smaller prizes, this multiplier can make big money even bigger. Here is a look at the Powerball paytable. All prizes but the jackpot can be enhanced by the Power Play:
| Numbers Matched | Prize Amount | Odds of Winning |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + Powerball | Jackpot | 1 in 292,201,338.00 |
| 5 w/o Powerball | $1 million | 1 in 11,688,053.52 |
| 4 + Powerball | $50,000 | 1 in 913,129.18 |
| 4 w/o Powerball | $100 | 1 in 36,525.17 |
| 3 + Powerball | $100 | 1 in 14,494.11 |
| 3 w/o Powerball | $7 | 1 in 579.76 |
| 2 + Powerball | $7 | 1 in 701.33 |
| 1 + Powerball | $4 | 1 in 91.98 |
| Powerball | $4 | 1 in 38.32 |
Powerball still claims the biggest payday ever
Just about every news outlet, including PlayPennsylvania, reported the Mega Millions jackpot, estimated to be $1.6 billion, as the biggest ever.
That turned out not to be the case though. Friday’s draw resulted in a smaller jackpot than anticipated and came in at $1.537 billion. That is still shy of the $1.586 billion Powerball from 2016.
Remember that $750 million is both a rough estimate and only available if taken as a 29-year annuity.
Should you want to take the lump sum payment instead, Powerball officials are estimating a roughly $428 million payday.
Powerball odds are even less in your favor
Both Powerball and Mega Millions shifted their odds in recent years, making it even more unlikely to win the big payday. That is why you are hearing about these massive jackpots more and more often these days.
The last time someone matched all five numbers and the Powerball was on Aug. 11. Should no one match the numbers, perhaps we will have another billion-dollar jackpot on Wednesday. Remember though, that is just an estimate.
The Powerball odds are not in your favor
It is an extreme longshot for an individual to win Powerball or Mega Millions. Nonetheless, the odds are a teensy bit shorter for Powerball. Instead of having a 1 in 302 million chance, you are looking at more like 1 in 292 million.
The jackpot features long odds, but there are actually several PA Lotter players who won five or six figures from Powerball recently. A week ago, there were eight PA winners of $50,000 or $100,000.
Use the PA mobile app to help find winners
If you have an office pool and bought a pile of tickets, don’t waste time going through them by hand. One of the PA iLottery mobile app’s many features is a scanner that can detect how much a given ticket is worth after the draw.
After all, time is money, and we are talking about an awful lot of money at stake.
