(Radio Iowa) – The Powerball jackpot has grown to more than one BILLION dollars for Wednesday’s drawing. It follows the Mega Millions jackpot won last week that was also more than one BILLION dollars. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, watches a specific aspect of the game when the jackpots get higher. “It’s something that’s called coverage. And what that number means is how many of all of the possible combinations of numbers in the game have been purchased or quote unquote, covered for a particular drawing,” she says. Neubauer says the addition of another drawing has had an impact on coverage numbers for Powerball.

“Because the Monday drawing in Powerball has only been around for about three years now, the coverage for a Monday drawing has always been lower. I think people are still figuring out that Powerball has a Monday drawing,” Neubauer says. “So in our recent drawings, what we’re seeing is that there is a higher quote , unquote coverage number for Wednesday and Saturday.”
Neubauer says the coverage number isn’t always a predictor that a jackpot will be claimed. “Interestingly when the Mega Millions jackpot that huge Mega Millions jackpot was just won last week. The coverage in that game wasn’t wasn’t terribly high. It was also only in the twenty percent range and there still was jackpot winner in the game,” she says.

Neubauer says the Powerball game has come a long way, the starting jackpot at the beginning was two million dollars.