2 $1 Million Winners In GA As $731.1M Powerball Jackpot Is Won

GEORGIA — There was a big winner in the Powerball lottery jackpot on Wednesday, one of the largest prizes in the game's history at $731.1 million. Unfortunately that winner lives in Maryland — but two Georgia lottery participants won $1 million.

According to the Powerball website, two people in Georgia matched five of the winning numbers to score the $1 million second-tier prize. Ten other winning $1 million tickets were sold in California (2), Illinois (2), Maine, Michigan, New Jersey (3) and Oregon.

No locations of where the winning tickets were sold were announced as of Thursday morning.

The winning numbers in the Wednesday, Jan. 20, drawing were white balls 40, 53, 60, 68, 69, plus Powerball 22, and Power Play multiplier 3X. If the Powerball winner chose the cash option, they would walk away with $546 million. The odds of winning the big prize were 1 in 292,201,338.

If you missed out on Wednesday's ginormous jackpot, you can try your luck Friday night in the Mega Millions lottery game. That prize will be worth a hefty $970 million, and the cash prize for that is $716.3 million.

The Powerball game is played by matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball number. The odds of picking the correct Powerball grand prize numbers are one in 292,201,338. Powerball tickets cost $2 each, and are sold at thousands of Lottery retailers. Find out where you can buy your Powerball tickets here.

You have a better chance of hitting the jackpot if you let the computer pick your numbers, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which operates the Powerball game and reports that about 75 percent of winning tickets have numbers chosen by a computer.

The lottery game is played in 44 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball drawings can be seen on 125 TV stations nationwide. They may also be available on cable or your mobile device. Drawing shows are also posted to Powerball.com under the video section and to YouTube.

View all Georgia Lottery game winning numbers and drawings on the Lottery website (www.GALottery.com) or on the official Lottery Facebook Page. WSB-TV, 11Alive and Fox 5 Atlanta also air every Powerball and Mega Millions drawings live. Mega Millions drawings are on Tuesdays and Fridays, while Powerball drawings are on Wednesdays and Saturdays.