Powerball Jackpot Soars To $545,000,000; Illinois Lottery Player Wins $2 Million Online
$6,000 Welcome Bonus
CHICAGO – The Powerball jackpot has soared to $545,000,000 - giving Illinois residents plenty of reasons to head to the store or jump online to grab a ticket for tonight’s draw.
One Illinois Lottery player, who bought a ticket online for the Powerball draw on Saturday night, is now $2,000,000 richer after matching five numbers with the Powerplay.
This lucky player is now the 10th Illinois Lottery player who has won a prize of a million dollars or more with Powerball in 2021 - and the fourth in just the past three months. The winning ticket was bought online via the Illinois Lottery’s website or app, which is available at IllinoisLottery.com
To celebrate both the growing Powerball jackpot and the new Monday night draw, the Illinois Lottery gave some players the chance to ‘catch it all’ this afternoon.
The Illinois Lottery was in Pioneer Court in downtown Chicago today with a money machine full of Powerball tickets and plenty of excited players waiting for their moment to grab some chances to win big.
Each player had five seconds to grab as many tickets as possible, and over 100 Chicagoans joined in on the fun this afternoon. Two players managed to grab 13 tickets each, giving them 13 chances at winning tonight’s jackpot.
Participants were optimistic and excited throughout the afternoon. Local resident, Bill Baker, captured two tickets and proclaimed, “I only need one to win.”
Another participant, Jason Hofferman, popped down on his lunch break and joked, “I feel lucky, and I might not go back to work.”
These players won’t have long to wait to find out the fate of their tickets. There are now three Powerball draws every week - on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Tonight’s Powerball numbers will be drawn at 9:59 p.m. CT, and the results will be available at IllinoisLottery.com soon after.
At $545,000,000, this is the highest Powerball jackpot offer in over eight months, and if won tonight, it will be the 10th largest Powerball jackpot ever won in the U.S.
Powerball tickets are $2 each, and players have the option to add the Powerplay for an additional $1 for the chance to multiply non-jackpot prizes.
About the Illinois Lottery:
The Illinois Lottery has contributed over $22 billion (since 1985) to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans services, the fight against breast cancer, MS and Alzheimer’s research, Special Olympics, police memorials and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. For more information visit illinoislottery.com.
