Texas Lottery Confirms Powerball Jackpot Win of $44.3 Million

If you play the Powerball Lottery game in Texas you might wonder do lottery players in the big cities such as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso have an advantage over a player in a smaller town. We did some snooping on the Texas Lottery winners page and found that Powerball, Lotto Texas with Extra! and Mega Millions balls don't seem to care where they bounce from or bounce to.

It's less about luck and more about volume. If you seem to notice more big winning tickets sold in the bigger cities. More tickets sold mean more chances for those tickets to be winners but players in places like North Richland Hills, Gainesville, San Angelo, Longview, and Magnolia have been known to pull a top prize with their tickets too.

There are some Powerball players who foster the myth that a winning ticket can't be purchased at a major chain store, and that winners only come from Mom and Pop operations. You can believe that if you want but there is no statistical evidence that I have found to back up that assumptions. The only thing I know for sure in lottery games is this. If you want to win, you have to play. And the game doesn't concern itself with where you bought your ticket.

In Monday's Powerball drawing players were attempting to take home an estimated annuitized jackpot of $44.3 million. That's a fairly "small" jackpot for Powerball. The reason for the smaller-than-average payout potential? The Powerball game had just made a jackpot winner last Monday, August 12th. The winning ticket in that game was purchased in Pennsylvania and the ticket's purchaser earned a before-tax win of $213.8 million. 

Here's how the big money Powerball payout looked when the drawing was held on Monday, August 19, 2024.

As someone who watches a lot of lottery drawings, I can tell you that in almost every jackpot winner that I have ever witnessed there always seems to be at least one ball that's in the "single digits". Basically what I am alluding to is this, of the potential 69 numbers that can be drawn, almost every jackpot winner has at least one number in the 01-09 range. I can't say it's a fact, but it's a prevalent observation.

In order to win the Powerball jackpot a player must match five balls of the sixty-nine that we mentioned earlier. The ticket holder must also match the one Powerball which is a choice from 01 to 26. The game also allows players to spend an extra dollar to opt-in for the Power Play. This is a multiplier that increases winnings by the multiplier that is drawn during the execution of the game.

We encourage you to verify your tickets, even if you think that they weren't winners at either the Official Powerball Website or the Official Texas Lottery Website. Those sites allow you to check multiple tickets at once. The sites also offer information on how to claim prizes that you might have been fortunate enough to win.

Speaking of winners, the numbers that we saw roll out of the hopper for Monday's Powerball Lottery drawing were:

01   02   15   23   28   Powerball 10     Power Play x2

Our sources at the Texas Lottery Offices in Austin have confirmed a single ticket did win last night's Powerball Jackpot. Unfortunately for Texas players that big-money winner worth $44.3 million was not sold in Texas. The largest prize earned by a Texas-sold ticket was $200. There were twenty-two tickets sold in the state that earned that amount. Another fifty-eight tickets also claimed a prize of $100.

The $44.3 million Powerball winner, according to the Powerball website was sold in California. We are still vetting the exact town and point of purchase for you but unless you happened to be in California over the past day or so and bought a ticket for Monday's drawing, you're probably going to need to get ready to go to work today.

But tonight's Mega Millions game can rekindle your dreams of instant millions if you choose to play. The Mega Millions jackpot is almost at half of a billion dollars. The estimated annuitized prize in Mega Millions tonight is $498 million. The lump sum payout is estimated to be $245.3 million. The drawing is tonight at 10 pm.

Please play these and all lottery games of chance responsibly. Most lottery tickets sold are not winners so only spend money that you can afford to lose. If you have a gambling problem help is available free of charge. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. The call and the referrals are free for you. Good Luck.