Powerball Jackpot Now at $135 Million; Lottery Advises Players to Buy Tickets Early; Three PA Players Match Five-of-Five for $100,000, $400,000 Prizes

Business Wire, June 26, 2003

Entertainment Editors/Assignment Desks

MIDDLETOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2003

The Powerball(R) jackpot rolls to an estimated $135 million for the Saturday, June 28, 2003, drawing. The cash option continues to grow as well; a single winner of this Saturday's drawing could take home an estimated $77.2 million cash prize. This is the second highest Powerball(R) jackpot the Pennsylvania Lottery has offered players since joining the multi-jurisdiction game one year ago.

Due to the high jackpot and anticipated increase in ticket sales for Saturday night's drawing, the Pennsylvania Lottery advises players to purchase their Powerball(R) tickets early to avoid the last-minute rush. At 8:30 Wednesday evening - two-and-one-half hours prior to the drawing - Powerball(R) tickets were selling at a rate of $115 per second, or just under $7,000 every minute. The Lottery also reminds its players to play responsibly.

No ticket won the top prize in the Wednesday, June 25, 2003, drawing by matching all five white balls, 05-26-35-43-50, plus the red Powerball(R), 04. The PowerPlay(R) number selected in Wednesday night's drawing was 4.

Three, match-five tickets sold in Pennsylvania for Wednesday's drawing won the second-tier prize. One match-five ticket selected the PowerPlay(R) option, and the winnings quadrupled - from $100,000 to $400,000 - since 4 was selected the PowerPlay(R) number. The other two tickets are worth $100,000 each for matching five-of-five winning white Powerball(R) numbers.

In Pennsylvania, there were 103,195 winning plays sold for the June 25 Powerball(R) drawing, of which 18,327 selected the PowerPlay(R) option. Each winning PowerPlay(R) ticket for Wednesday's drawing receives four times the standard cash prize for its respective category. In Pennsylvania, Powerball(R) players who "powered up" with PowerPlay(R) for the June 25, 2003, drawing will receive total additional winnings of $552,567 - more than one-half-million dollars.

The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state Lottery that designates all of its proceeds to benefit older citizens. Since its inception 31 years ago, the Lottery has contributed $13 billion to programs that have expanded to include property tax and rent rebates, free and reduced fare transit for older Pennsylvanians, a co-pay prescription drug program (PACE and PACENET) and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including 650 full- and part-time senior centers, located throughout Pennsylvania. Players must be 18 years of age or older.

For additional information about the Pennsylvania Lottery, please visit the Lottery's Web site at www.palottery.com.