Powerball

Now we know what unlucky numbers look like. In last night's Powerball drawing, 7, 8, 33, 38 and 50 came up, along with a Powerball of 29, producing one of the stingiest payouts in a year. No one hit the jackpot. No one matched the first five numbers, so no one won the $1 million or $2 million prizes. In Pennsylvania, nobody even won the $10,000 or $40,000 prizes. The biggest prize was $200, and only 21 tickets won that. Nationwide, less than $2.6 million was won. In April, the average non-jackpot payout was almost $11 million.

Beginning tomorrow, you can forget about having to take the R2 to Wilmington, or the interstate to D.C. for that matter, to get your Powerball fix. That's because tomorrow - in time for Saturday's drawing - Pennsylvania becomes the latest state to join the super-size lottery cartel. Previously, the closest Powerball outlets were in Delaware and the District of Columbia. Powerball, known for its large jackpots (the biggest was $295.7 million in 1998), is a favorite of many Pennsylvanians, which contributed to the state's joining the multistate lottery last December.

FOUR LUCKY ticket-holders struck it rich last weekend, but here's the real winner of the $295 million Powerball binge: the government. Powerball is a multistate numbers racket that would be quashed by the Justice Department if it were privately run. Instead, the state bureaucrats behind these get-rich-quick schemes are allowed to ban outside competition - including private slots, phone betting, pull tabs and card rooms. When it comes to profiting from the mathematically challenged, lawmakers want the booty all for themselves.

Powerball's cash jackpot is up to $99 million after no one won it all Saturday night. Look at it this way - that's more money than Shrek Forever After raked in this weekend. So winning would be your own DreamWorks production. Nobody won $1 million, but three tickets - sold in Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin - won $200,000 each by matching the first five numbers, 19, 20, 40, 47 and 57, but not the Powerball of 29. As a result, Wednesday's annuity jackpot goes up to $190 million.

He may be unemployed and weighed down with a leg cast and crutches, but don't tell Jose Colon he should have stayed in his bed in North Philadelphia. There are the doctor's orders, and then there is the healing power of Powerball. "If I win $250 million, I can give him a bonus, a little tip," Colon said of his knee surgeon, who may very well have been in the same 4 1/2-hour line at the 7-Eleven store on Route 52 in Wilmington, where men in business suits and women checking their pagers squatted on milk crates next to trash bins in yesterday's hot midmorning sun. All for an 80 million-to-one chance of becoming filthy, filthy rich in the biggest lottery jackpot ever.

The biggest cash prize in U.S. lottery history was awarded today to Louisa White, 81, of Newport, R.I. The advertised annuity - $336.4 million - was staggering, but not a record-setter. Five annuities were bigger, including two in Powerball. But the $210 million cash prize beats all the competition, topping a record set in March 2011 by a New York winner in Mega Millions. Mega Millions has produced two bigger cash jackpots, but each was split. The corresponding cash has been higher in recent years because of low interest rates.

The bigger they are, the faster they rise. The Powerball jackpot went up Saturday night by more than the next Mega Millions jackpot is worth. Mega Millions will be worth $19 million tomorrow, after no one hit all the numbers Friday night. Powerball's top prize will be $97 million Wednesday night - up by $27 million - after Saturday night's drawing failed to produce a winner. The cash payouts are estimated at $49.4 million for Powerball, $12.1 million for Mega Millions.

Check those tickets, lottery fans. After the latest drawings, Powerball has $1 million for two Pennsylvania players, and Mega Millions has $250,000 for two more in New Jersey. Nobody won either jackpot, so tomorrow's top annuity prize in Mega Millions will be $64 million, and Wednesday's top Powerball prize will be $38 million. Word isn't in yet where those $1 million tickets were sold, but the winners matched the first five numbers drawn Saturday - 4, 22, 26, 31 and 52 - while having the Power Play multiplier option.

A Pennsylvania ticket came close to winning last night's $25 million Powerball jackpot. But, for the second time this summer, the only ticket with all the numbers was sold in Georgia, this time in Decatur. The June 29 jackpot of $77.1 million, hit in Tallapoosa, Ga., is still unclaimed, according to Powerball.com. The winning numbers drawn Wednesday night were 16, 41, 42, 50 and 59, with a Powerball of 5. Pennsylvania and Florida each sold a ticket now worth $200,000 for matching the first five numbers but not the Powerball.

A Lancaster County ticket hit for $1 million in Powerball over the weekend. No one matched all the numbers in either major multi-state lottery, so the annuity jackpots went up to $127 million for Mega Millions, $40 million for Powerball. The Lancaster County ticket was Powerball's biggest winner. Sold at the Turkey Hill store at 1199 Prospect Road in Columbia, it was the only one in the country that matched the first five numbers drawn Saturday night - 2, 23, 31, 42 and 48 - while also having the Power Play multiplier option.

No one won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot but a ticket sold in New Jersey scored for $1 million. The New Jersey Lottery says the ticket was sold at the Super Stop & Shop, 24 Summerfield Blvd., South Brunswick, Middlesex County. The winning numbers were 3, 7, 21, 28 and 43 with the Powerball 2. Five other tickets sold in other parts of the country also had the first five numbers but not the Powerball. One ticket each sold in Wisconsin and West Virginia also won $1 million while one ticket each sold in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oklahoma won $2 million because the buyers opted for the powerplay option.

Thanks to a lucky lunch break - or was it the power of prayer? - the four dozen happiest people in Philadelphia were introduced to an envious public Friday as they claimed a Powerball jackpot worth $107.5 million in cash. They filled rows of chairs at a late-morning news conference, telecast live from SEPTA headquarters. Most of them have worked for the transit agency for tenures of less than a year to 42 years. Ranging in age from 26 to 69, including some who were already retired, they vowed that no further media meet-and-greets would be granted.

A group of SEPTA workers did indeed win the April 25 Powerball jackpot, the Pennsylvania Lottery will officially confirm on Friday, according to sources. A week ago, officials held a news conference at the Newsstand at the Gallery to reveal the winning ticket had been sold there. By midafternoon, reports were spreading that 48 jubilant SEPTA employees believed their office pool had the winning ticket. The jackpot was worth $172.7 million in 30 annual payments, or $107.5 million cash.

Now we know what unlucky numbers look like. In last night's Powerball drawing, 7, 8, 33, 38 and 50 came up, along with a Powerball of 29, producing one of the stingiest payouts in a year. No one hit the jackpot. No one matched the first five numbers, so no one won the $1 million or $2 million prizes. In Pennsylvania, nobody even won the $10,000 or $40,000 prizes. The biggest prize was $200, and only 21 tickets won that. Nationwide, less than $2.6 million was won. In April, the average non-jackpot payout was almost $11 million.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, workers at SEPTA's offices broke out in cheers and raced through hallways to spread the good news: Forty-eight employees shared in Wednesday's jackpot-winning Powerball ticket worth $172.7 million. "It was a party atmosphere," said Richard Maloney, director of public affairs. The workers, most employed in SEPTA's purchasing department at the Market Street headquarters, stand to collect about $3.6 million each if they take the 30-year annuity payment, or $2.5 million each if they take the one-time payout.

AS JAMES THROWER leaned against a wall outside SEPTA headquarters on Market Street, the paratransit worker's smirk said it all. "We immediately started hatin', " the 34-year-old joked with three of his co-workers. "I play the lottery every day. I'm in the casino every week. I just wish it was me. " A SEPTA co-worker breezed by the group. "Y'all winners?" she asked excitedly. Thrower and his buddies answered in a chorus: "We wish!" The wish, of course, was to be one of the 48 SEPTA workers who bagged the $172.7 million Powerball jackpot in Wednesday night's drawing.

Philadelphia had its biggest lottery win ever Wednesday night, as a Powerball ticket bought at the Newsstand at the Gallery was the only one in the country to match all the numbers drawn. They were 4, 25, 29, 34 and 43, with a Powerball of 29. The jackpot was worth $172.7 million in 30 yearly payments, or $107.7 million cash. Only one ticket in Pennsylvania history snagged a bigger payout. The annuity jackpot was worth $213.2 million, when a Bucks County ticket bought by Steve and Kristine White had the combination to the vault in May 2004.

Some major moolah is waiting to be claimed by locally purchased tickets. No, not the biggest jackpots. Powerball and Mega Millions both rose. But a $2.27 million Match 6 win in Montgomery County and a $330,000 Cash 5 windfall in Philadelphia should buy more than a few tanks of gas. So will the $1 million won by a Powerball ticket bought in York. (Unless maybe you're trying to fuel a space flight.) The Match 6 Lotto ticket - bearing the numbers 3, 11, 25, 37, 46 and 49 for the April 19 drawing - was purchased at a Sunoco on Gulph Road in King of Prussia.

Anybody want some money? Some major lottery prizes, won by local tickets, are still looking to be claimed, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery. One ticket worth $250,000 expires this month. Here's a rundown, including two last-gasp chances and a handful of recent victories. Expiring soon: $250,000 won in Bucks County. The Mega Millions ticket was purchased for the April 29, 2011, drawing at the Acme Market at 2301 Pasqualone Blvd. in Bensalem. It matched the first five numbers - 9, 10, 11, 33 and 51 - but not the Mega Ball of 29. Because the prize expires on a Sunday, final chance to stake a claim in person is Friday, April 27, and last chance for a valid postmarked mailed submission is Saturday, April 28. Also expiring: $50,000 won in Montgomery County.