$1.9B Powerball Jackpot Monday Drawing Lures Players Across Illinois

ILLINOIS — Lottery fever has hit both longtime players and first-time ticket buyers in Illinois with an estimated $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot up for grabs in the Monday drawing.

No one matched the winning numbers in Saturday’s drawing. They were: white balls 28, 45, 53, 56, 69, and red Powerball 20.

One person in Kentucky claimed a $2 million prize in Saturday’s drawing. Sixteen players in 12 states won $1 million in prizes. Those tickets were purchased in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.

While no one claimed a $1 million prize in Illinois, three people won $150,000 with the winning tickets being sold in Steger, Cordova, and on the Illinois Lottery website, lottery officials announced. Five other people won $50,000 in lottery winnings during Saturday’s drawing.

An Illinois Lottery spokeswoman said that since the Powerball lottery started rolling upward on Aug. 4, more than 17 million Powerball tickets have been sold across the state. In that time, more than 1.6 million winning tickets have been sold and more than $15 million has been paid to winners, the spokeswoman told Patch on Monday.

The Powerball tickets have generated more than $93 million in sales, which has meant $37 million being returned to local schools across the state.

The drawing for Monday’s ginormous jackpot, the largest in U.S. history, is at 9:59 p.m. Drawings are held at the same time on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

A lucky ticket holder in Monday’s drawing could claim the prize in two ways, through an annuity paid over 29 years, or as a lump sum cash payment, which would be $929.1 million. Under the annuity option, the winner would get about $63 million per year.

Lottery fever has been building as the jackpot grows, especially after it eclipsed the record $1.586 million Powerball prize split by players in California, Florida, and Tennessee in 2016.

The cash payout for Monday’s drawing is actually less than the cash payout in the 2016 drawing, which was $983.5 million. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are behind the discrepancy, according to CNN.

No one has been able to overcome the long odds of winning the jackpot — 1 in 292.2 million — in 40 weeks, allowing the prize to grow more massive. A player in Pennsylvania won the Aug. 3 $206.9 million jackpot.

That matches a record for draws without a winner, along with a run of drawings last year, according to the Clive, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association.

Sisters Christy Bemis and Cherrie Spencer were among those in line for lottery tickets Saturday at Woodman’s Markets in Madison, Wisconsin, which saw activity so brisk that employees set up stanchions to guide the queue to the lottery counter.

The sisters told The Associated Press they almost never buy lottery tickets, but were willing to part with a couple of bucks for a chance at the jackpot.

“My $2 has just as good a chance of winning as anyone else's $2,” Spencer told the AP.

Powerball is played in all U.S. states but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. The reasons range from objections from conservatives, concerns about the impact on low-income families, or a desire not to compete with existing gaming operations.

That means people have to cross state lines to buy Powerball tickets.

Loretta Williams had to drive from Alabama to Georgia to get her ticket for Saturday’s drawing. “I think it’s ridiculous that we have to drive to get lottery tickets,” Williams, 67, told the AP.

Chris England, a Democratic state representative from Tuscaloosa, told the AP that he hears the same from constituents.

“I’m pretty sure the people of Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia appreciate all of our contributions to their roads, bridges, education system, and many other things they spend that money on,” he said.

A Powerball ticket costs $2. For an additional $1 per ticket, players can multiply non-jackpot prizes by up to 10 times with the Power Play feature. One caveat: The 10X multiplier is only available when the advertised jackpot annuity is $150 million or less.

To win the jackpot, a player must match all white balls in any order and the red Powerball number. Lottery officials say chances are higher when players don’t choose their own numbers. About 75 percent of winning tickets over the years were picked by a computer.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.