Big prize in Prince George’s County tops a day of big wins for Maryland Lottery players
The Powerball jackpot continued on a historic roll Monday night. No one matched all six numbers for a jackpot win, so the next drawing, on Christmas Eve, will have an estimated annuity prize of $1.7 billion.
The estimated cash option for the Christmas Eve drawing is $781.3 million, and if the jackpot is hit at $1.7 billion, it would be the fourth-largest since the game began.
Meanwhile, a Powerball ticket sold in Upper Marlboro that included the Double Play option won a $500,000 second-tier Double Play prize on Monday night. The ticket was sold at the Wawa store at 163 SE Crain Highway.
The winner has 182 days from the drawing date to claim the prize. There were more than 95,000 winning tickets in Maryland for the Dec. 22 Powerball drawing, with prizes ranging from $4 to the $500,000 Double Play prize in Upper Marlboro.
Double Play is an optional feature that players can add to a $2 Powerball ticket for an additional $1. Each $3 Powerball ticket with Double Play is eligible for the Powerball drawing and a separate Double Play drawing 30 minutes after the Powerball drawing each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Double Play has a separate prize structure featuring a $10 million top prize. The winning ticket in Upper Marlboro won Double Play’s second-tier prize of $500,000 by matching the first five numbers drawn.
The last time the Powerball jackpot was hit came on Sept. 6 when two tickets sold in Missouri and Texas, respectively, split a $1.787 billion prize. The Christmas Eve Powerball drawing will be the 47th in the current jackpot run — a game record for the most drawings in one jackpot cycle.
Since Sept. 6, Powerball players in Maryland have won $10.3 million in prizes, including a pair of $1 million wins on tickets sold in the Prince George’s County communities of Clinton and Lanham. Powerball sales in Maryland since Sept. 6 have also generated $3.1 million in commissions for Maryland Lottery retailers and an estimated $13.7 million in contributions to the State budget.
The Double Play prize highlighted a day full of substantial wins for Maryland Lottery players:
Monday night’s Multi-Match annuity jackpot of $640,000 ($380,000 cash option) was won on a ticket sold the day of the drawing at the Royal Farms at 105 Clay Drive in Queenstown (Queen Anne’s County). Multi-Match is a Maryland-only jackpot game with drawings on Mondays and Thursdays with a top prize that starts at $500,000.
The Maryland Lottery Holiday Raffle held its third Early Bird drawing on Monday, with a $50,000 prize won on a ticket sold Dec. 17 at Foods In convenience store at 12549 Mattawoman Drive in Waldorf. The final drawing in the Holiday Raffle is Jan. 2, and has a top prize of $1 million, 10 prizes of $100,000, and 10,000 prizes of $50 to $500.
Monday night’s Bonus Match 5 drawing produced a $50,000 top-prize win on a ticket sold the day of the drawing at Compass Beer Pump, 3 Compass Drive in Middle River. Bonus Match 5 drawings are held nightly.
The Lottery encourages all of the winners to sign their tickets and put them in safe places. All tickets worth more than $25,000 must be claimed by appointment through Lottery headquarters within 182 days of the drawing date.
