There’s some good news and some bad news from Powerball here in Iowa. First the good news for Iowa Powerball customers: The jackpot is on another exciting climb.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Powerball jackpot is up to $630 million — that’s the seventh-highest total in the game’s history. Jackpot winners get the full amount (after taxes) with the annuity option, which is 30 graduated payments over 29 years. Powerball offers the winners a lump sum option of $448.4 million.
The winning numbers from Monday’s Iowa Powerball drawing were 2, 13, 32, 33, and 48. The Powerball number was 22.
Iowa Powerball jackpot has been building
A California player used an Oct. 4 ticket to claim a $699.8 million jackpot. It was the fifth-largest win in the game’s history. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 9:59 p.m.
The all-time biggest jackpots and winning locations are:
- $1.586 billion (CA, FL, TN) — Jan. 13, 2016
- $768.4 million (WI) — March 27, 2019
- $758.7 million (MA) — Aug. 23, 2017
- $731.1 million (MD) – Jan. 20, 2021
- $699.8 million (CA) — Oct. 4, 2021
- $687.8 million (IA, NY) — Oct. 27, 2018
- *Est. $630 million — Jan. 5, 2022
- $590.5 million (FL) — May 18, 2013
- $587.5 million (AZ, MO) — Nov. 28, 2012
- $564.1 million (NC, PR, TX) — Feb. 11, 2015
Powerball sells tickets in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Powerball officials say the overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The jackpot odds are 1 in 292.2 million.
Mega Millions has a nice jackpot, too
Iowa Powerball customers may want to add a lotto purchase at their next store visit. Mega Millions has a nice jackpot going too. Mega Millions has Tuesday and Friday drawings, so customers have a little more time for that game. It has an estimated jackpot of $278 million.
Mega Millions was last won in the Oct. 22 drawing. A Lake Havasu City, AZ family won the $108 million jackpot. They chose the lump-sum option to collect $75.2 million.
Winning numbers from the Jan. 4 drawing were 4, 6, 16, 21, 22 and Mega Ball 1. Drawings take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Iowa Powerball customers miss out on special ‘First Millionaire’ drawing
Now the bad news: The ball may have dropped in Times Square, but $1 million didn’t fall into the laps of Iowans who held two of the five shots in the Powerball “First Millionaire of the Year” contest on New Year’s Eve.
The winner was announced on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022.” Altogether, 29 states took part in the First Millionaire of the Year promotion. The Iowa Lottery used its VIP club to create a pool of 20 semifinalists. Iowa beat the odds when its tickets landed two of the five final spots. They were:
- Shari Beenken — A 57-year-old office administrator from Titonka
- Rob Long and the Lotto 22 group from Waterloo.
The prize ultimately went to Brian Mineweaser of Honey Brook, PA. Players from Illinois and Louisiana also has a shot at the million.
Iowa’s Beenken and Long didn’t go home empty-handed. All of the finalists received a:
- 70-inch LED TV
- karaoke system
- premium laptop computer and
- deluxe dinner for eight.
Iowa’s winners each received $2,500 for being semifinalists as well.
