Unravel the Power of the USA Powerball Lottery

Overview

Powerball is one of the two largest national American lottery games with a shared jackpot. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) which is a non-profit association. Powerball was official born on 19 April 1992 and prior to that, it had been known as 'Lotto America' which began in 1988. The key difference between Powerball and Lotto America is that Powerball uses two drums to select the numbers. Every Wednesday and Thursday night, five white balls  from 59 and one red ball from 39 (known as the 'Powerball') are drawn. There are a total of nine prize divisions depending upon how many of the six numbers you match.

The advertised jackpot starts at a guaranteed $20 million and can easily grow into hundreds of millions of dollars over many drawings.  Winners can choose to have the prize paid out as an annuity over 29 years or receive the present value, paid upfront in cash. 

Each selection of six numbers costs players $1 for the base game and for an extra $1 you can multiply a non-jackpot prize by up to five times with the PowerPlay multiplier.

Lottery Schedule

Drawings for this lotto are held on Wednesday, Saturday.

How to Play

Currently Powerball costs $1 per ticket. For each ticket purchased, players must select five numbers from a set of 59 (white balls) and one number from a set of 39 (red Powerballs). Players can either choose their own numbers or can ask for a Quick Pick which is where a lottery terminal randomly selects the numbers for them. The official winning numbers are drawn from two separate drums.  To win a prize, players need to match at least three numbers of the white balls and/or the Powerball.

Lottery age Limit

You have to be over age 18 to participate in the Lotto draws.

Participating Countries

The following countries participate in Powerball - USA: USA.

Prize Structure

All non-jackpot prizes are fixed amounts as follows:

1. 1. all six numbers wins the jackpot
2. 2. all 5 numbers, no Powerball wins $200,000
3. 3. 4 numbers, plus Powerball wins $10,000
4. 4. 4 numbers, no Powerball wins $100
5. 5. 3 numbers, plus Powerball wins $100
6. 6. 3 numbers, no Powerball wins $7
7. 7. 2 numbers, plus Powerball wins $7
8. 8. 1 number, plus Powerball wins $4
9. 9. zero numbers, plus Powerball wins $3

These amounts, however, may be reduced and paid on a pari-mutuel basis if the number of winners at each prize level is greater than the funds in the prize pool for that drawing.

Grand Prize

$101,172 US Dollar.

Jackpots

For just an extra $1 per ticket, players can apply the PowerPlay multiplier. The multiplier number is drawn by a random number generator and applies to all prizes except for the jackpot and second division prize. Prizes can be multiplied between 2 to 5 times.

Notable Wins

For a period, Powerball held the record for the largest single prize awarded ever by an American lottery. On 18 February 2006  a single ticket won the $365 million jackpot. Eight people, however, shared the ticket and decided to take the cash option, and split $177,270,519.67 before taxes.

Distribution of Revenue

The estimated jackpot is usually 32.5 per cent of the revenue of every ticket sold. 
If no players wins the jackpot in a particular drawing, the prize pool carries over to the next drawing and will continue to grow until someone hits it.