By Todd Northrop

There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday night drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery game, causing the grand prize to increase to an estimated $191 million for Saturday's drawing.

Saturday was the 9th consecutive Powerball drawing without a jackpot winner.  The jackpot run started April 3 as a $40 million jackpot.

The estimated cash value for the new jackpot is $124.7 million. After-tax cash and annuity prize amounts are reported state-by-state on the Jackpot Analysis page at USA Mega, a web site devoted to the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery games.

Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs.

Although there were no jackpot winners Wednesday, 2 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from New Jersey and 1 from Oregon.

None of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option for an extra $1. If they had, their second prize ticket would double in value to $2 million.

41 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Of those tickets, 6 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $40,000, and 5 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $9,828 this drawing.  By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.

The Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday, May 1, were 22, 26, 31, 54, and 55, with Powerball number 18.

Following the Wednesday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $26 million from its previous amount of $165 million. The cash value was raised by $17 million, from its previous amount of $107.7 million.

The next Powerball drawing will take place Saturday evening at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.

When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.  Power Play is available for purchase in all states offering Powerball except California.

Powerball is now played in 43 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

The Powerball winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.