By Michael Santo on 2012-05-27
The Wednesday Powerball jackpot had been set at $128 million annuity value, $83.7 million cash value. The new jackpot value on Wednesday will approach $150 million on an annuity basis and $100 million on a cash basis.
For those who don't normally play, but are looking to jump in because the Powerball jackpot has passed the magic nine digit mark, the differences between an annuity jackpot and a cash value in lotteries such as Powerball and its multi-jurisdictional rival Mega Millions are because of the way these lotteries generate their values. Annuity payouts are done over time, and the lotteries use interest generated during the life of the annuity for the remainder of the jackpot value. Changes in estimates for the interest over the life of that annuity also explain why one jackpot may be a cash value record but not an annuity record.
The winning numbers for the Wednesday Powerball drawing were 13-14-41-49-59 with a Powerball of 14.
While there was no big winner, there were still millionaires created by the drawing. With the change in tiers after the Jan. 15, 2012 rules changes, the second tier, five matching numbers, no Powerball tier has a million dollars as its prize, with the Power Play value being two million. There were five millionaires minted, 1 from Maryland, 1 from New York, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Tennessee, and 1 from Texas.
For the second consecutive time, there were no two million dollar Power Play winners in that tier. Power Play is an optional $1 extra game feature, where each tier, except the jackpot, is multiplied by a static value. For example, the second tier is multiplied by two. The third place tier, in contrast, is multiplied by four for a Power Play win.
Prior to the Jan. 15 rules changes, these Power Play multipliers were randomly generated each drawing; they are now constant. In addition, the Jan. 15 rules changes increase the Powerball entry fee to $2 and slightly increased the odds of winning the big jackpot.
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