The ticket was sold at "the Chevron gas station at 11961 W. Olympic Blvd in Sawtelle," ABC7 reported. It matched five numbers but not the Powerball, and it is worth $809,204.
Saturday's numbers were 6, 17, 27, 48 and 50, with a Powerball of 5, which Powerball's own site confirms, along with a Power Play multiplier of 3.
Three tickets nationwide hit that tier, and ABC7 reports each was worth the same $809,204.
The number nobody explains
Most states pay a flat $1 million for matching five numbers without the Powerball. This paid $809,204.
We do not know why, and we are saying so rather than guessing. The most common explanation offered is that California awards lottery prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning each tier's pool is divided among that tier's winners rather than paid at a fixed rate, which produces odd figures like this one. That would be a satisfying answer. It is also not one we could verify, because the California Lottery's website blocks us, and it does not obviously account for all three tickets nationwide being worth the identical amount.
So: the figure is $809,204, it is confirmed, and the reason it is not $1,000,000 is a question we have not been able to answer. If we get a straight answer from the lottery, we will print it.
Monday
The jackpot rolls to an estimated $748 million, with a cash value of $325.1 million, both confirmed on Powerball's site. Saturday was the 39th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.
Monday's draw is at 10:59 p.m. Eastern, which is 7:59 p.m. here.
The odds, which do not change
The odds of matching all five numbers plus the Powerball are 1 in 292.2 million, ABC7 reports, citing the Multi-State Lottery Association. The overall chance of winning any prize is 1 in 24.9.
A rolling jackpot changes the prize. It does not change the arithmetic. The 39 consecutive drawings without a winner are not evidence that one is due; each draw is independent of the last.
We could not verify the specific odds of the Match 5 tier, or the deadline and procedure for claiming a California prize, from a source we can reach. The California Lottery is the authority on both and its site is not loading for us.
