Powerball Validates Wednesday’s Drawing, Confirms Texas Lottery Win

The Texas Lottery is bringing the heat to all of Texas as many residents are bracing to face serious winter weather over the next 24 to 48 hours. Cities along and north of I-20 such as Gainesville, Wichita Falls, Sherman, Paris, and Texarkana could see several inches of snow as we move through the day Thursday and into Thursday evening. However, the threat of inclement weather did not prevent a Texas Lottery Powerball ticket from being declared a major prize winner on Wednesday night.

Powerball has always been popular in Texas ever since the Texas Lottery introduced the game in 2010. In the fourteen years that Texans have played Powerball Texas-sold tickets have earned the game's top prize two times. Meanwhile, the Mega Millions lottery game which started play in Texas in 2005 has made 14 jackpot winners.

Speaking of winners, if you played Powerball in Texas you might be the next name added to the state's list of big wins. If you didn't see the Powerball drawing Wednesday night, here is how that unfolded.

The Texas Lottery confirmed to us early this morning that 34,952 tickets sold for last night's Powerball drawing in Texas earned a prize. That means the ticket purchaser at least doubled the money they spent to buy a ticket to play the game.

Wednesday's Powerball jackpot was reported to be $238 million at the time the drawing took place at the Florida Lottery offices in Tallahassee last night. Powerball insiders did confirm to us that no ticket matched the numbers needed to claim the game's jackpot prize.

But there were two tickets sold that earned Match 5 Million prizes. A ticket sold in Ohio matched all of the white balls in Wednesday's drawing to earn one million dollars. Another ticket sold in Indiana matched the same number scenario but they opted for the Power Play which means their one million dollar prize is now two million dollars.

Our source inside the Texas Lottery did reveal that Powerball had validated a Texas-sold ticket as a $50,000 winner on Wednesday. That ticket matched four of the five white balls and the Powerball. So you could say they missed the "big money" by just one number.

Meanwhile the other "big game" in Texas last night was Lotto Texas with Extra! The jackpot in that game has been growing since an Austin-sold ticket claimed the jackpot prize back in August of last year. The jackpot in Wednesday's Lotto Texas with Extra was $65 million and there was no winner.

However, Lotto Texas with Extra! did produce 14 winners of $2,167 and seven winners of $12,167 for matching five of the six numbers drawn in Wednesday's game. The Lotto Texas with Extra Jackpot will now climb to an estimated $66 million when they draw again on Saturday night.

The Lotto Texas with Extra! winning numbers on Wednesday were:

12   17   26   37   38   44

The Powerball winning numbers on Wednesday were:

01   20   36   38   43   Powerball 24    Power Play x2

If, based on those numbers, you feel as if you're holding a winning ticket you'll need to verify your Powerball wins at either the Official Powerball website or for Lotto Texas with Extra and Powerball you can confirm your win at the Official Texas Lottery website. Those sites are the sites of record so do confirm any suspected wins there before you attempt to cash a ticket.

Thursday is our day to reset since there are no huge lottery game draws today or tonight. Okay, Texas Two Step will draw for $225,000 but the big money game Mega Millions won't draw until Friday. The jackpot for Mega Millions is estimated to be $77 million.

As we alluded to earlier, Lotto Texas with Extra! will draw for $66 million on Saturday and also on Saturday Powerball will draw for an estimated $263 million.

Please remember that lottery games do come with an inherent risk of losing money. If you can't afford to lose, then you really shouldn't attempt to play. If you need help with a gambling problem, help is available. Dial 1-800-GAMBLER. The call is free, the referrals to counseling are free, and the number is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Good Luck.