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Powerball Jackpot grows to estimated $400 million

Posted at 10:55 AM, Sep 16, 2013
and last updated 2013-09-16 10:55:22-04

More than 32,000 tickets in Virginia won prizes in Saturday’s Powerball drawing, according to Virginia Lottery officials. But no one in Virginia or anywhere else matched all six numbers, so the jackpot for the Wednesday, September 18 Powerball drawing grows to an estimated $400 million.

Two Virginia tickets each won $10,000 in Saturday’s drawing. Those tickets were bought in Purcellville and Pounding Mill.

Virginia Lottery officials expect to sell more than 2 million Powerball tickets in the Commonwealth on Wednesday alone. If one ticket matches all six numbers, the winner will have a choice: either take the full $400 million jackpot in 30 annual payments or choose a one-time cash option of approximately $223.6 million before taxes.

“This high jackpot comes just as the Virginia Lottery celebrates its 25th birthday,” said Paula Otto, Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery. “The excitement level of a high jackpot is more than just fun for players. It means more Lottery revenue to help Virginia’s K-12 public schools.”

So far in 2013, Virginians have won nine $1 million Powerball prizes, a $2 million prize and a $217 million Powerball jackpot. One of those $1 million prizes has not yet been claimed. That ticket was bought in Berryville.

Powerball drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. Powerball drawings are broadcast on TV stations across Virginia and streamed live on http://www.valottery.com. For more information on Powerball, visit http://www.powerball.com.