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The Powerball drawing was delayed — but some folks were still having a ball.
While lottery players waited with bated breath to see if anyone claimed the record $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot — and they continued waiting well into Tuesday morning due to a security issue postponing the drawing — many people turned to Twitter to crack jokes about the decidedly unlucky turn of events.
Indeed, the perfect storm of a delayed Powerball drawing, coming on the night of a blood moon lunar eclipse, which was on the eve of a pivotal midterm Election Day, provided plenty of fodder for social commentary.
Others were in disbelief that something as seemingly simple as a lottery drawing could take so long to resolve.
Or, some lottery skeptics snarked about the irony of the lottery “breaking” the one time that they decided to play. (Be warned there may be some strong language in the following tweets.)
Plenty of others pointed out that, blood moon aside, the odds of anyone winning the grand prize were astronomical — the odds of winning the $1.9 billion jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, in fact.
But some remained optimistic that, while we’re all waiting for the Powerball drawing to commence, “we have all won.”
And in a way, the shared experience of waiting to hear whether anyone took the $1.9 prize has united much of the country ahead of what’s been shaping up to be a divisive midterm election. So…that’s a win, right?
So what was going on with Powerball?
Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, the organization behind the game, said that Monday’s drawing, with a record $1.9 billion jackpot, was being delayed because of a security issue. The drawing was originally set for 10:59 p.m. Monday EST.
Read more: $1.9 billion Powerball drawing still delayed because of security issue
“Tonight’s Powerball drawing has been 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,” officials said in a statement Monday night. “When the required security protocols are complete, the drawing will be performed under the supervision of lottery security officials and independent auditors.”
