Early details show that Iowa Lottery players won nearly 225,000 prizes in the world-record Powerball jackpot drawing Wednesday night (Jan. 13, 2016).

The game’s giant top prize ended up being even higher than the latest estimates leading into the drawing. Strong sales nationwide pushed Wednesday’s jackpot to a world-record $1.586 billion annuity, or $983.5 million cash option. Lottery officials said three tickets matched the six numbers drawn, but none of them were sold in Iowa.

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich thanked Iowans for joining in the fun of this week’s historic Powerball moment.

“This really has felt like we were all part of one big conversation,” Rich said. “At the Iowa Lottery, we extend our sincere thanks to our players and retailers for being part of this shared moment. It’s been a busy time, but we’ve all had some fun and our joint efforts have made a difference right here at home by raising additional lottery proceeds for state causes.”

Here is an initial look at Wednesday’s drawing and its Iowa results:

The winning numbers drawn were: 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10. The Power Play number was 2.

  • Three tickets that matched all six numbers will be splitting the $1.6 million prize. Lottery officials said the winning tickets were sold in California, Florida and Tennessee.

A total of 224,656 plays purchased by Iowa Lottery players won prizes ranging from $4 up to $2 million.

  • Seven tickets purchased in Iowa came within one number of having at least a share of the jackpot. One of those tickets won a $2 million prize. The ticket initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize, but the person who bought the ticket also added the Power Play to the purchase, which multiplied the prize to $2 million.
  • Six other Iowa tickets also were one number away from the jackpot, matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball. Three of those tickets each won a $50,000 prize, while three others each won a prize of $100,000. The difference again was the Power Play option, with the $100,000-winning tickets having the Power Play added to them.

Iowa Lottery players bought more than $12 million in Powerball tickets for Wednesday’s drawing, including more than $6.2 million in tickets on Wednesday alone.

  • During Wednesday’s busiest stretch from about 5-6 p.m., Powerball tickets were selling at nearly $13,800 per minute in Iowa. However, the average Iowa Powerball purchase on Wednesday remained about $7, or three to four plays per ticket. Lottery officials were pleased that Iowans enjoyed playing at a fun level and didn’t go overboard.

How did sales figures for Wednesday’s drawing compare to those for Saturday’s drawing, when the jackpot was already a U.S. record of $947.9 million?

  • Iowa Lottery players bought more than $8.6 million in Powerball tickets for Saturday’s drawing, including more than $4.4 million in tickets that day alone. Sales peaked at about $7,900 per minute on Saturday. So, total sales for Wednesday’s world-record Powerball drawing were nearly 40 percent higher than those for the drawing that had occurred just four days earlier.

The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million because there are about 292.2 million ways you can combine the numbers in the game to make a play.

  • By tracking nationwide sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing. Nearly 89 percent of all the possible combinations were purchased for Wednesday’s drawing.

More From 97.7 KCRR