DES MOINES, Iowa — The Powerball lottery draw, scheduled for Saturday evening, has been postponed to complete procedures needed before the numbers are announced, the game’s organizers said.
The drawing for the game, which includes an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot, was postponed to allow one of the organizers to complete required procedures before announcing the scheduled numbers at 10:59 p.m. ET, it said Powerball in a statement.
“The Powerball rules require that each ticket sold nationwide be checked and verified on two different computer systems before the winning numbers are drawn,” the statement said. “This is done to ensure that every ticket sold for the Powerball drawing is accounted for and has an equal chance of winning. Tonight we have one jurisdiction that needs additional time to complete that pre-emption process.”
A spokesperson for the Multi-State Lottery Association told The Associated Press in an email that she had no estimate on the length of the delay.
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 opt for a cash payout, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $608.9 million.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
