DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball lottery drawing scheduled for Saturday evening has been delayed to complete required procedures before the numbers are announced, game organizers said.
The draw for the game, featuring an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot, was delayed to allow one of the organizers to complete required procedures before the expected numbers were revealed at 10:59 p.m. ET, a Powerball said in a statement.
“The rules of the Powerball game require that every ticket sold nationwide be checked and verified against two different computer systems before the winning numbers are drawn,” the release said. “This is done to ensure that every ticket sold for the Powerball drawing has been considered and has an equal chance of winning. Tonight we have a jurisdiction that needs more time to complete this pre-draw process.
A spokeswoman for the Multi-State Lottery Association told The Associated Press in an email that she did not have an estimate for how long the delay would last.
Saturday’s jackpot ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history and the odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million. Grand prize winners almost always choose a cash payout, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be estimated at $608.9 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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