What Is the Powerball Lottery?:
The Powerball Lottery is a multi-state lottery run in all but 8 of the US states, as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. It replaced the Lotto*America lottery in 1992, and was the first lottery game to use two drums. Winners are drawn on Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 PM Eastern Time. The drawings are done at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and announced on television, on the Powerball website, and in newspapers.
The Powerball Lottery offers a Jackpot which starts at $20 million and can reach values of hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as other levels of cash prizes.
How Much Does It Cost to Play Powerball?:
Basic Powerball cards cost $1 each. Then there is the PowerPlay option, which lets you multiply the value of any prize you win except the Jackpot by paying an additional $1 per card. So with a $2 card, the value of any non-Jackpot prizes you win will be doubled. a $3 card will triple your prize and so on, up to the maximum $6 card, which multiplies your prizes by five.
How Do You Play Powerball?:
Powerball is a two-drum lottery game. One drum holds 59 white balls, while the other drum holds 39 red balls. The red ball is the Powerball.
Entrants select five white balls from first drum and one red ball from the second drum. The Powerball numbers can be selected by the entrant or drawn at random by the Powerball machine. The order of your Powerball numbers don't affect your chances of winnin.
How Do You Win Powerball?:
To win the Powerball Jackpot, you need to match all five white balls in any order, as well as the red Powerball. Even if you don't win the Jackpot, you can win cash prizes for getting as little as one correct number (the Powerball). Here are the Powerball payouts:
- 5 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: Jackpot
- 5 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $200,000 ($1,000,000 if you have a PowerPlay at any level)
- 4 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $10,000 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- 4 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $100 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- 3 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $100 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- 3 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $7 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- 2 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $7 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- 1 Correct White Ball and the Powerball: $4 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
- Just the Powerball: $3 x any PowerPlay Multiplier
What Are the Odds of Winning Powerball?:
Powerball.com lists the odds of winning Powerball as follows:
- Jackpot: 1 in 195,249,054.00
- $20,000: 1 in 5,138,133.00
- $10,000: 1 in 723,144.64
- $100: 1 in 19,030.12 without Powerball or 1 in 13,644.24 with Powerball
- $7: 1 in 359.06 without Powerball or 1 in 787.17 with Powerball
- $4: 1 in 123.48
- $3: 1 in 61.74
- Overall Odds of Winning Any Prize: 1 in 35.11
Is There a Secret to Winning Powerball?:
The Powerball.com FAQ Page points out that if you buy a Powerball card for every possible red ball, you'll be guaranteed to win at least the small prize. Of course, you'll have spent $39 to guarantee a $3 win, but if you match some of the white balls on those 39 cards as well, your total wins could be higher than $3.
Is Playing Powerball Worthwhile?:
Whenever the Powerball Jackpot gets really big, tons of people start entering for the chance of winning hundreds of millions of dollars. But does it make sense to play Powerball?
There's no definitive answer to that question. But statisticians have devised a formula to help you determine whether the risk is worth the potential payoff. To find out what that formula is and how it works, read the entertaining and informative article, Is Powerball a Mug's Game? from Slate.
Which States Do Not Participate in the Powerball Lottery?:
The Powerball Lottery is not available in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, and Hawaii.
