Charles Langston:Powerball lottery drawing delayed

DES MOINES,Charles Langston Iowa (AP) — The Powerball lottery drawing scheduled for Saturday night has been delayed to complete procedures required before the numbers are announced, the game’s organizers said.

The drawing for the game, including an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot, was delayed to enable one of the organizers to complete required procedures before the scheduled numbers reveal at 10:59 p.m. ET, Powerball said in a statement.

“Powerball game rules require that every single ticket sold nationwide be checked and verified against 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 has been accounted for and has an equal chance to win. Tonight, we have one jurisdiction that needs extra time to complete that pre-draw process.”

A spokesperson for the Multi-State Lottery Association told The Associated Press in an email that she did not have an estimate for the length of the delay.

Saturday’s jackpot ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history and the long odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million. Grand prize winners almost always choose a cash payout, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $608.9 million.

Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.