What Is the Powerball Lottery?:
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?:
Note: The fixed-value PowerPlay prize amounts is a change that was made on January 15, 2013. Before then you could pay an additional $1 for every multiplier to your prize if you won. With the old format, with a $2 card, the value of any non-Jackpot prizes you win will be doubled. a $3 card would have tripled your prize and so on, up to the maximum $6 card, which would multiply your prize value 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.
When you buy your ticket, you'll select five numbers (these winning numbers will be drawn from the first drum with the white balls) and one Powerball number (the winning powerball number will be drawn from the second drum with the red balls). You can choose your Powerball numbers or you cal let the Powerball machine drawn your numbers randomly.
The order of your first five Powerball numbers doesn't affect your chances of winning. So if you pick the numbers 1 3 9 13 17 and the Powerball 6, and the winning numbers come up 17 9 1 3 13 (6), you'll still win.
How Do You Win Powerball?:
Basic Powerball Payouts:
- 5 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: Jackpot
- 5 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $1,000,000
- 4 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $10,000
- 4 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $100
- 3 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $100
- 3 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $7
- 2 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $7
- 1 Correct White Ball and the Powerball: $4
- Just the Powerball: $4
- 5 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: Jackpot
- 5 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $2,000,000
- 4 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $40,000
- 4 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $200
- 3 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $200
- 3 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: $14
- 2 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: $14
- 1 Correct White Ball and the Powerball: $12
- Just the Powerball: $12
What Are the Odds of Winning Powerball?:
- 5 White Balls and Powerball (Jackpot): 1 in 175,223,510.00
- 5 White Balls, but no Powerball: 1 in 5,153,632.65
- 4 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: 1 in 648,975.96
- 4 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: 1 in 19,087.53
- 3 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: 1 in 12,244.83
- 3 Correct White Balls, but no Powerball: 1 in 360.14
- 2 Correct White Balls and the Powerball: 1 in 706.43
- 1 Correct White Ball and the Powerball: 1 in 110.81
- Just the Powerball: 1 in 55.41
- Overall Odds of Winning Any Prize: 1 in 31.85
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 $78 to guarantee a $4 win, but if you match some of the white balls on those 39 cards as well, your total wins could be higher.
Other than that, there's no secret to choosing winning numbers that will improve your odds. The number draw is totally random. However, you can read my lottery winning tips that really work to find no-nonsense tips to help you win lotteries.
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.
