Hold On!

They delayed Saturday’s $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot drawing after one of the lottery’s jurisdictions needed more time to complete the “required pre-draw procedures,” lottery officials announced.

They scheduled the drawing for 10:00 pm CST Saturday.

“Tonight, we have one participating lottery that needs additional time to complete required pre-draw procedures, which we have enacted to protect the security and integrity of the Powerball game,” a release from Powerball read.

“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. They do this 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,” the statement continued.

Powerball also told players to hold onto their tickets for Saturday’s drawing, as the drawing will go forward once the required pre-draw procedures have been completed.

Powerball announced at around midnight CST Sunday morning that Saturday’s drawing was still delayed due to a ticket verification issue in one of its jurisdictions and that it hoped to complete the drawing “as soon as possible.”

“Please note that we complete these required pre-draw procedures by every participating lottery before every Powerball drawing, and the time it takes to complete this process varies each night,” the updated statement read, in part.