They didn’t score the big one, but 68,000 Virginia Powerball winners lined their pockets with a little something following Wednesday’s historic drawing.
In fact, five of those Virginia Powerball winners scored $50,000 each, according to the Virginia Lottery.
Powerball, a multistate lottery game that’s available in the overwhelming majority of US states, captured lotto players’ imagination for the Jan. 5 drawing. After 39 drawings without a jackpot winner, the jackpot had swollen to a staggering $636.2 million.
Two players located outside of Virginia purchased winning tickets for the jackpot. They’ll now split the seventh-largest jackpot in Powerball history, as well as the 11th largest jackpot in worldwide lotto history.
But Virginia had a few (smaller) winners of its own.
Virginia Powerball winners score secondary prizes
Powerball prizes can range from $4 to a million bucks even without winning the jackpot.
To score the jackpot, players must match five white balls (numbered 1-69) and the Powerball (numbered 1-26). However, you can win “secondary prizes” simply by matching the Powerball and no other numbers. In that case, it will net you $4.
However, as you begin to match more numbers, the payouts increase.
- 50% Up to $100 on Deposit
- 20 Free Games on Sign Up
- Use Code: PLAYVA
Most of Wednesday’s Virginia Powerball winners scored $4 and $7 payouts. There were also some $100 prizes.
And VA’s biggest winners, who each claimed $50,000, matched four of the first five numbers plus the Powerball. The odds of winning $50K in Powerball? They’re just 1 in 913,129.
Players purchased those lucky $50,000 tickets in:
- Alexandria: 7-Eleven, 6147 Franconia Road
- Christiansburg: Kroger, 555 N. Franklin St.
- Harrisonburg: Royal, 895 East Market St.
- Locust Grove: Food Lion, 36127 Godwin Dr.
- Radford: Buckos Pantry, 7554 Peppers Ferry Blvd.
The winner numbers for the Jan. 5 Powerball drawing were 6-14-25-33-46, with a Powerball of 17.
Buying Powerball and Mega Millions tickets online
Of those 68,000 Virginia Powerball winners on January 5, nearly 11,000 purchased tickets online.
Buying VA Lottery tickets online is a quick and convenient way to play all of the lotto’s most popular games.
And now, with the Powerball jackpot resetting at $20 million, some Virginia Lottery online lottery players are likely to shift over to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions, the country’s other top multi-state jackpot draw game, now has a jackpot of $278 million. Unlike Powerball, with three weekly drawings, Mega Millions drawings take place just twice each week, on Tuesday and Friday.
With media outlets covering “lotto fever” as part of the recent Powerball run, there’s likely to be some residual effect. For example, there should be a spike in Mega Millions sales for the Friday, Jan. 7 drawing.
Of course, all of that lotto interest is great news for the Virginia Lottery. According to a spokesperson, Virginia scored $18 million in profit during the recent 39-drawing drought of Powerball winners. And as officials are quick to remind Virginians, by law, all of that profit goes to K-12 public education in VA.
