POWERBALL & HOT LOTTO JACKPOT UPDATES

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Powerball Jackpot Nears A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars

Wednesday's Powerball® Jackpot = Estimated $245 Million

Wednesday's Hot Lotto® Jackpot = Estimated $16.4 Million

Two big jackpots up for grabs in Iowa right now! The Powerball jackpot has been growing since late June and has reached an estimated $245 million for Wednesday's drawing. Wednesday's estimated jackpot ranks as the 10th largest in the history of the game.

The Hot Lotto jackpot has been on an even longer run. It's been growing since late February and is up to an estimated $16.4 million. That's the second-largest jackpot ever offered in the game.

Lottery Officials Predict High Sales And Issue Reminder To Play Responsibly

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich predicts high sales in Iowa this week and reminds everyone to play responsibly. "As you've probably heard us say before, 'Remember to play with your head not over your head,'" Rich said. "The fun of Powerball is that you can do a lot of dreaming for just a few dollars."

Winning Tickets Galore

Nearly 10 million winning Powerball tickets have been sold across the country during the current jackpot run. The precise number is 9,976,761. Of those, 208,180 were sold in Iowa. None of them won the jackpot, obviously, but they did win prizes ranging from $3 up to $200,000.

Retailer Rankings

Big jackpots mean busy times at lottery retailers across Iowa, and the current jackpot run shows the huge sales impact of the thousands of daily visitors at the Iowa State Fair. The lottery has four sales terminals at its booth inside the Varied Industries Building at the Fair and three of those terminals were the top three retail spots in Iowa for lottery ticket sales leading up to Saturday night's drawing (Aug. 15). The fourth terminal also is among the top ten lottery retailers in the state for that time period.

Many of the other top-selling locations are in communities along the Mississippi River that bring in traffic from the Illinois side of the border. Illinois is not a Powerball state.

The Top 10 Powerball-selling retailers in Iowa Thursday-Saturday were:

• Lottery Booth in Varied Industries Building at Iowa State Fair, Des Moines.
• Lottery Booth in Varied Industries Building at Iowa State Fair, Des Moines.
• Lottery Booth in Varied Industries Building at Iowa State Fair, Des Moines.
• Big 10 Mart, 411 14th St., Bettendorf.
• Porter's Convenient 66, 1512 Lincolnway, Clinton.
• Lottery Booth in Varied Industries Building at Iowa State Fair, Des Moines.
• Sara Mini Mart, 1026 W. River Dr., Davenport.
• Hy-Vee, 1823 E. Kimberly Dr., Davenport.
• Hy-Vee, 1843 Johnson Ave. N.W., Cedar Rapids.
• Hy-Vee, 2900 Devils Glen Road, Bettendorf

General Powerball Information

Powerball tickets are currently sold in Iowa, 29 other states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball jackpots start at a guaranteed $20 million and continue to grow until they’re won. Players choose five numbers from a pool of 59 and another number – the Powerball – from a pool of 39. Plays cost $1 and drawings are at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

General Hot Lotto Information

Hot Lotto was designed to essentially be a mini version of Powerball, with smaller jackpots and easier odds. Hot Lotto is played in Iowa, 12 other states and the District of Columbia. Jackpots in Hot Lotto start at $1 million and grow from there. Players choose five numbers from a pool of 39 and another number – the Hot Ball – from a separate pool of 19. Plays cost $1 and drawings are held just before the Powerball drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Iowa Lottery Jackpot Winners

Iowa Lottery players have won six jackpots in both Powerball and Hot Lotto.

The Iowa Lottery's Powerball jackpot winners are:

• Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge, who claimed a $200.8 million jackpot in October 2006.
• Hugh Hawkins of Des Moines, who claimed a $113.2 million jackpot in December 2005.
• Jacquelyn Moore of Omaha, Neb., who won a $14.4 million jackpot in October 2004. (She bought her ticket at a convenience store in Carter Lake in western Iowa.)
•  The Larry Hasken family of Sabula, who claimed a $31.8 million jackpot in January 2000.
• Tim Schultz of Des Moines, who won a $28 million jackpot in February 1999.
• Ed Brown of Washington, who split a $10.4 million jackpot with a woman from Missouri in December 1992.

Iowa’s Hot Lotto jackpot winners are:

• John Hall of Indianola, who won a $19.97 million jackpot in January 2007. It was the largest prize offered in the game to date.
• Moses Bittok of West Des Moines, who won a $1.89 million jackpot in September 2005.
• Danny Good of Des Moines, who won a $1.65 million jackpot in December 2003.
• Todd Brobston of Fort Madison, who won a $1.3 million jackpot in November 2003.
• Don Sporrer of Denison, who won a $2.7 million prize in December 2002.
• Darlene Becker of Dubuque, who won the first jackpot ever claimed in the game, a $2.6 million prize in the drawing on July 10, 2002.