The Powerball jackpot is nearing $1 billion after there was no winner in Monday night’s drawing, but grocery shoppers in Harford County and Howard County are celebrating big prizes this morning.
While the jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing has reached an estimated annuity value of $975 million ($422.3 million cash option), a ticket sold at the Harvest Fare Supermarket at 2315 Belair Road in Fallston delivered Maryland’s third $1 million Powerball prize in the past two weeks. The ticket matched the first five winning numbers (6, 37, 54, 55 and 64), but did not match the Powerball number (10).
In the Aug. 1 Powerball drawing, a $1 million winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven at 8905 Rhode Island Avenue in College Park. There was also a $1 million winner in the July 29 drawing on a ticket sold at the Royal Farms at 1558 Annapolis Road in Odenton — that prize was claimed on Monday by an anonymous Anne Arundel County resident who nicknamed himself “Powerball Bulldog.”
Meanwhile, a customer at the Harris Teeter store at 8620 Guilford Road in Columbia was a $150,000 winner in Monday night’s drawing. A ticket sold there matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball number to win a base prize of $50,000. The player who purchased the ticket added the Power Play option to the ticket, and with a Power Play multiplier of X3 in Monday’s drawing, the prize was tripled to $150,000. Powerball tickets are $2, and the Power Play option costs an additional $1, taking the price to $3. Adding the Power Play option multiplies any prizes that a Powerball ticket wins except for the jackpot.
Maryland Lottery players have won more than $8.4 million in prizes on Powerball tickets since the last time the game’s jackpot was hit on May 2, when a pair of tickets sold in Florida and Texas split the jackpot.
Powerball has nine different prize levels, including the jackpot, and across Maryland, there were 38,170 winning tickets in the Aug. 10 drawing with prizes ranging from $4 to $1 million. Maryland Lottery winners have 182 days from the drawing date to claim their prizes.
Since the last jackpot was hit on May 2, and including the two big wins Monday night, Powerball players in Maryland have won 20 prizes of $50,000 or more: three $1 million winners (College Park, Odenton and Monday night’s win in Fallston); the $150,000 win Monday night in Columbia; a $100,000 winner on a ticket sold in Edgewood; and 15 prizes of $50,000 on tickets sold in Annapolis (2), Belcamp, Beltsville, Bethesda, Catonsville, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, North Beach, North East, Nottingham, Sykesville, Waldorf and Wheaton.
Powerball drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights with a jackpot that starts at $20 million and grows after each drawing in which the jackpot is not won. Tickets are $2 and are sold in 45 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom. Five winning numbers are drawn from a range of 1 to 69, along with one winning Powerball number from a range of 1 to 26. Players win the jackpot by matching all five numbers plus the Powerball number.
