The Powerball jackpot Saturday went unclaimed and the new estimate is $650 million — making it the second largest
Powerball prize in the history of the game. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says a ticket sold in Iowa was close to taking the all the money.
“That ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. It was sold at a HyVee in Cedar Rapids, so we are still waiting to hear from that person,” Neubauer says. The Iowa Lottery players sold nearly $2.7 million in Powerball tickets for Saturday’s drawing, including more than $1.4 million in tickets on Saturday alone.
Neubauer says there were some 50,000 tickets that won some sort of prize outside of the jackpot, and she says that has a significant impact on the state. Neubauer says things have not hit the mega level when it comes to drawing attention.
“At some point the jackpot becomes that thing that just everybody is talking about,” Nuebauer says, “and I think we are definitely seeing that phenomenon now.” She expects the jackpot to be raised at least once more before the drawing on Wednesday.
“That kind of becomes the procedure once we get in the stratosphere we are in now and people start jumping in and playing all across the country,” according to Neubauer. She says about 32 percent of all the possible number combinations were purchased in Saturday’s drawing.