Powerball, Texas Lottery Confirm Huge Monday Night Payout

The "Luck of the Irish" was displayed Monday night in the great state of Texas. And while folks were still recovering from this weekend's big parade on Lower Greenville in Dallas, the Parking Lot Party at Griff's Irish Pub in Houston, and the pub crawl that seemed to involve almost everyone in Bryan-College Station, there was enough "luck" leftover to create a very impressive payout in Monday's drawing of Powerball with the Texas Lottery. 

Now, big wins with Powerball and the Texas Lottery are nothing news for Lone Star lottery fans, the Powerball game produced a $2 million winner in this past Saturday's game. That ticket, by the way, was sold at a QuikTrip convenience store in San Antonio. So, if you played Powerball Saturday in the Alamo City, I would check my ticket to see if you can call in sick to work today.

But that was then and this is now. There was a Powerball drawing on Monday night, St. Patrick's Day, and here is how the balls bounced out of the hopper in that drawing.

Players across Texas and the Powerball footprint were hoping to match all the numbers needed to claim the game's top prize of $398.2 million. That was the estimate for the annuitized jackpot, the cash payout for a jackpot win on Monday would have been $185.8 million.

But no tickets sold for Monday's game in Texas or anywhere for that matter matched the numbers needed to claim that prize. So, when Powerball plays again on Wednesday the top prize will be an estimated $416 million for the annuity or $194.1 for the cash payout.

While there was no jackpot winner on Monday, there were winners across the state of Texas. The official recap of last night's drawing as provided by our sources at the Texas Lottery showed that 31,271 tickets purchased for the drawing returned money to the players that bought them. Of those 31,000-plus winners just under half, 12,910, tickets doubled their winnings by participating in the game's Powerplay option.

Meanwhile, our sources at Powerball have confirmed that two tickets sold for Monday's drawing earned a Match 5 Million prize. Those tickets were sold in Colorado and Pennsylvania. A little closer to home, we do have some good news for two Texas Lottery Powerball players. Two tickets sold for the St Patrick's Day drawing earned a prize of $50,000.

Here are the numbers that were drawn:

11   18   23   38   60   Powerball 09   Power Play x2

If you've matched some of those numbers with your tickets you'll want to verify that information via the Official Texas Lottery Website. You can also confirm numbers on the official Powerball website. Both of those sites offer detailed information on prize amounts and how to collect your winnings so go there before you head out to your favorite Texas Lottery retailer or Texas Lottery field office.

Your next chance at instant millions will come tonight with the Mega Millions game. That game features an estimated top prize of $301 million. Tonight's drawing will be held at 10 pm Texas time. The next Powerball drawing will be on Wednesday night.

As always we encourage responsible play in these or any lottery games. There is a risk of losing money and a lot more if your desire to play overcomes your better judgment. If you need help with a gambling problem it is available at no charge to you or your family. Call 1-800-GAMBLER to be connected to professional counseling. Good Luck.