Million-dollar Powerball ticket sold in Berks

A Berks County convenience store sold a ticket that won $1 million in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing.

Because no one hit all the numbers - 4, 19, 28, 29 and 47 with a Powerball of 5 - the jackpot rose to a whopping $146 million for Saturday's drawing.

The drawing produced three $1 million winners, who matched the first five numbers but not the Powerball.

The Pennsylvania ticket was purchased at a Turkey Hill store on Furnace Street in Birdsboro, about a dozen miles southeast of Reading. The other two seven-figure winners were sold in Indiana and Washington State.

Before Jan. 15 matching the first five numbers would have been worth $200,000.

But in raising the ticket price to $2 that day, Powerball also jacked up its prizes.

The hope was that the game would produce lots more millionaires. The total so far, though, has been modest - five in three drawings.

But just wait. On Nov. 2, for example, a remarkable 19 tickets matched the first five numbers. Under the new rules, they would have all won $1 million.

If any of the three winners also had the $1 Power Play option, the prize would have been boosted to $2 million. No one won that prize.

If the jackpot rolls over again on Saturday night, expect it rise dramatically for several reasons.

First, of course, the bigger any jackpot gets, the faster it grows.

Second, the jackpot is only $12 million for Mega Millions, the other multistate lottery game. The two go head to head in 41 states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Powerball may cost twice as much - Mega Millions is still $1 - but its jackpot is more than a dozen times as large.

Also, Powerball seems to be raking in money faster than before. In July, for example, three drawings saw a $76 million jackpot rise by $57 million, to $133 million. The last three drawings saw an $80 million jackpot rise by $66 million, to $146 million.

That's for the annuity, by the way. The cash payout is estimated as $91.4 million - before taxes, of course.

A note about the Power Play: No longer is a number drawn that's used to multiple lower prizes. Instead, Power Play prizes are now fixed at higher amounts. For example, the third level prize - matching four numbers and the Powerball - is now $10,000 without the Power Play, $40,000 with it. Matching just the Powerball itself pays $3, but $12 with the Power Play.

For more on the lotteries, go to www.philly.com/philly/news/lottery, www.palottery.com or www.njlottery.net.