Powerball delayed: Here's what you should know about the record-breaking lottery drawing
PHOENIX - Just as the nation's focus turns to the record-breaking Powerball drawing on Nov. 7, the drawing was delayed, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
10 hours after the delay, the winning numbers were finally drawn.
Related: Powerball: Here are the winning numbers in $2.04 billion jackpot after delay
Here's what you should know about what's going on.
Why was the drawing delayed?
According to a statement from the Multi-State Lottery Association, the drawing was delayed due to "a participating lottery needing extra time to complete the required security protocols."
"Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur. When the required security protocols are complete, the drawing will be performed under the supervision of lottery security officials and independent auditors," read a portion of the statement.
Initially, officials with MSLA did not specify the security protocols. On Nov. 8, however, officials with Minnesota Lottery acknowledged that their sales verification system caused the delay.
Where do they draw the numbers?
According to a 2018 article by the Associated Press, Powerball numbers are typically drawn from the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee.
Are there other security protocols in place for lottery drawings?
The website of Florida Lottery listed a number of draw management and facility security measures that they follow.
"As part of our detailed pre-draw procedures the draw manager and independent auditor complete a lengthy checklist that thoroughly scrutinizes all aspects of each drawing. There are multiple draw machines and ball sets available for use at any particular drawing. The draw machine and ball set for each drawing is selected at random just prior to the drawing. Ball sets are weighed on certified electronic scales before and after each drawing to ensure that there has not been any tampering and a series of pre-tests are also conducted to ensure the machines are working properly." read a portion of the website.
In addition, Florida Lottery officials say there is an auditor from an independent auditing firm that attends and participates in every single drawing, and a special agent who is a sworn law enforcement officer serves a draw manager.
Once again, it should be noted that officials with MSLA did not specify their security protocols, nor did they say which participating lottery failed to complete the required security protocols before the originally scheduled drawing time.
Has this happened before?
Yes.
In August 2021, it was reported that a delay in the Powerball results meant that some winning tickets could not be cashed.
For that incident, officials with Powerball said several lotteries needed extra time to complete the required security protocols.
"Without the the draw results, the next estimated jackpot cannot be calculated and, in some jurisdictions, prizes on winning tickets cannot be paid," a portion of the statement read.
How much money was at stake?
According to the Powerball's website, the jackpot was $1.9 billion. The cash value was $929.1 million.
How did the jackpot get so big?
The Powerball prize keeps getting more massive because of the inability of anyone to overcome the long odds of 1 in 292.2 million and win the jackpot. To take the top prize, players must match all five white balls and one red Powerball.
Since someone won the prize on Aug. 3, there have been many drawings without a winner.
The Associated Press (AP) contributed to this report.