As Powerball prepares to celebrate its 20th year in 2012, the game is being redesigned to bring more value to its players.
Jackpots will start at $40 million and the jackpot is being made easier to win. The overall odds of winning any prize are also easier, and there are more chances to win a prize of at least $1 million cash. The ticket price also will change, moving from $1 to $2.
Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states with jackpots that started at a guaranteed $2 million, Powerball has grown into one of the world's biggest and most recognizable lottery games. Today it's played in 44 jurisdictions across the United States, with players buying more than $3 billion annually in Powerball tickets.
The biggest Powerball jackpot so far was a $365 million prize split by eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant in February 2006.
With that success comes a demand for innovation to keep things fresh. Alan Yandow, Vermont Lottery Executive Director and Powerball Group Chair, said lotteries are responding with the latest changes in Powerball.
"Frequently we hear from players suggesting that in addition to Powerball's big jackpots, we give away more $1 million cash prizes," Yandow said. "We're excited to deliver the opportunity to create more millionaires and also provide more opportunities to raise additional revenues for the respected causes benefitted by lotteries."
U.S. lottery directors this month approved the upcoming changes to the game. The enriched Powerball game will debut Jan. 15, 2012. Tickets in the game will cost $2 and the Power Play multiplier feature will still be available for an extra $1 per play. For that extra $1, players have the chance to win $2 million cash for the match 5 prize.
Players in the newly designed game will still choose their first five numbers from a pool of 59, but the group of numbers in the Powerball pool will shrink from 39 to 35, producing better overall odds of winning a prize in the game.
Players today have a 1 in 35 overall chance of winning, which will improve to 1 in 31.8 in the revamped game. The Powerball jackpots will start at $40 million, double the current starting jackpot of $20 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot will still be astronomical, but they will improve a bit to 1 in 175,223,510 — a hair better than Mega Millions' 1 in 175,711,536 odds.
Yandow said that by changing Powerball's ticket price to $2, U.S. lotteries are following the same successful business model they've used for years with lottery scratch games by offering various tickets at different prices. The Mega Millions jackpot game and other in-state lotto and scratch games will still be available for those players who prefer the $1 price level of play.
The new Powerball game will still offer players nine ways to win prizes, with its second prize moving up to $1 million in cash from the current $200,000, and the lowest prize level (for those who match just the Powerball) being elevated to $4 from $3.
Since Powerball's inception on April 19, 1992, the game has generated approximately $33 billion in sales for lotteries that the game supports. About 25 to 35 percent of that amount goes to good causes such as education, senior programs, local towns and the environment; 50 percent is paid in cash prizes and 6 percent goes back to local communities in the form of retailer compensation. Participating Powerball jurisdictions are expected to generate even more money for those good causes by selling the new Powerball game.
Powerball drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, 9:59 p.m. Central Time, 8:59 p.m. Mountain Time and 7:59 p.m. Pacific Time. The winning numbers are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com).
sounds awesome
I wish this had happened a year ago before I started developing my lottery addiction.
At first glance I like it.
If I read the OP right then the Powerplay will be gone.
If the ticket is $2 and the 5 + 0 prize is $1 million it will be a better bet than Mega Millions, kind of. 5 of 56 is still more likely than 5 of 59 but you have to go the other $1 for the Megaplier to turn the 5 + 0 into $1 million.
Since competition is always good for the consumer, let's see what happens to Mega Millions.
I don't like it, their sales will go down and the jackpots will not grow as before. Liars also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 prize isn't, they will tax you just the same. 1 in 35 to 1 in 31.8 I'd rather play 10 lines than 5 lines any day, what a hoax..........
Not at all happy about these changes!!!
!!!! This is nothing more than a way for all the lotteries to earn more money by making us spend $2 instead of $1. And the odds changing from 1 in 35 to 1 in 31.8.....HA! What a freakin' joke!!!! Glad I live near the Georgia border where I can, and will, continue to play MegaMillions for just $1.
I don't like this. Last time the changed the game the told us it was for our own good that the increased the odds. Now they have come up with a way to make twice what players usually spend and eliminate "a dollar and a dream" fact by reducing the number of bouns balls. In a couple years when the complain about the poor sales which there will be, they will increase the bonus ball back up. Tada... all we got will be a simple increase (double) in price.
Why do the need more money. They make a ton already. Is this really to give us back more money? I dont believe it.
if you read the systems that i posted you will know that at: $2 the ticket with less than: $2,000 or less than: $1,500 you can win Powerball [i think so, i think i am correct]...would had liked for them to create a 3rd Powerball at $2 and leave the regular PB at: $1...and a: 4th one at: 25 cents...
These are some of the same changes that happened to the Canadian lotteries a couple of years ago. First their main game (Lotto 649) went from $1 a ticket to $2 a ticket. Then Super 7 which already had $2 tickets, was replaced with Lotto Max with $5 tickets.
These changes are not good for individual players. Players have to pay more. What they get in return, larger jackpots, is not of greater value. For an individual, a $100 million jackpot is not twice as valuable as a $50 million jackpot. There are diminishing returns when dealing with huge sums of money.
Larger jackpots only benefit group plays. I never buy individual tickets for the major games such as Lotto 649, Lotto Max, Mega Millions and Powerball. The odds are too large and are only there is support jackpots that are larger than I wish to play for.
In general, the larger the jackpot the higher the cost - in either ticket cost or odds or both.
Hope this doesn't happen with MM.
Oh well, things change!
Tickets in the game will cost $2 and the Power Play multiplier feature will still be available for an extra $1 per play. For that extra $1, players have the chance to win $2 million cash for the match 5 prize.
The above line states what is happening Mr. Coin Toss! So if you were to play one line with the powerplay the total cost will be 3 dollars instead of the original 2 dollars as before the change!
a supercomputer will be able to lower them more...
Powerball is great but it has a flaw there is only 1 winner....
Hope MM comes to florida before 2012
Actually this will probably encourage more people to start spending their lottery dollars on state lotteries instead of PB. I have better odds and have to spend less money on the Florida State lottery versus powerball in January. I don't care if I have a better chance of winning a lower tier prize....I don't play PB to win 1 or 2 million.
i think they should pay: $1 million for the second prize but offer a 2nd second prize tier that also pays: $1 Million...is better...the same should be with the 3rd prize tier...
They ruined Classic Lotto in MD with Multi Match and they know it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Multi Match jackpots blow in the wind small. You pick 1 line it picks 2 lines and you pay 2$ for it to QP 2 of your three lines it used to ba dollar per line, what a POS they made in Maryland. Never play it no more. What a rip do these jackpots look like lotto jackpots?????????????
I'm having a hard time understanding why the JP doesn't start out at 40 mil for$1 anyhow with the amount of states that are now involved
Too bad we don't have Power Ball in my state.
PB could pay: $2 Billion dollars is still not great...How you make it great: Let it cost: $2 with the: $20 Million extra let it pay different prizes of the second and third tier [second prizes...Let the maximum pay out be: $100 Million dollars anything above it goes to the second and third prize tier but create more tiers similar to the 2nd and tier prize that pay ranging from: $50,000 to $3 Million dollars...Example: you add 2 extra bonus balls beside the bonus ball that count for any prize other than the 1st one..
5+0 + 0+ 0 = $200,000
5+0 + 1 + 0= $300,000
5 + 0 + 1 + 1 = $500,000
5 + 0 + 0 + 1 = $700,000
those are the second prize tier but they will be more for the second prize tier and third prize tier....Is better that way...
thought of this since 12 years ago...
Double the price, double the starting jackpot, and I'm supposed to believe I'm getting a so-much-better deal?
Sounds like something a bureaucrap would think of, or someone who thinks everyone else is bad at math.
But then ... "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people". -- H. L. Mencken
two dollars a ticket will doom this game since mostly poor people play it hoping for these pie in the sky jackpots...nobody really needs 100 million dollars so it is much wiser to chase your individual state lotteries paltry 1-3 million dollar 6-40 approx. type lotto's. for 1.00 a throw. forget about that rip off power play option on these game. you are much better off using that dollar toward another combination on the aforementioned state megabucks type game. why are people so greedy? many people i hear say well i'm not going to play until it reaches 100 million. no one can handle winning that much. it has been proven over and over. 1 million dollars still goes a long way and people turn up their noses at such small jackpots(big mistake). there are many going on between 1-6 million that are much easier to hit and you won't have people hounding you for their share.
It now costs me $4 to play Powerball with 2 lines with Powerplay.
The new game will cost me $6 for the same deal for slightly better odds and bigger starting jackpots and bigger prizes.
I can understand the uproar if you're buying a lot of lines but for me it's no big deal really cuz I only play 2 lines.
And I got this funny feelin I'm gonna win the very first drawing!
I hope if MegaMillions is thinking of making any changes as far as ticket costs, they wait until after PowerBall makes its changes to see if players prefer paying $1 or $2 for a chance at a multi-million dollars jackpot with odds of 1:175M to win it. Seem to me when the two jackpots are within $50M of each other, there'll be no advantage to playing PB.
PowerBall just changed its game on 01/07/09 and could be headed back to the drawing board shortly after making this change. MegaMillions has had its present format since 06/24/05 and hope they keep it for another six years.
That is a good idea.
As for the prize structure, I'd rather see increases - HUGE increases - in the lower tier prizes. I strongly believe that paying out $100 (a fifth of the prize for the Pick-3) for odds of 1 in 19,030 (about twice the Pick 4) for any reason is extremely unethical. I will play only the Pick-3 and Pick-4 because payouts for those games are much more fair (50% of the odds). It is probably the low lower-tier prizes that allow the jackpot to get so high though.
BTW Powerball's inception date - April 19, 1992 - was Easter Sunday.
Ughh!
More Changes for the "Good" of the Average Player from Powerball. I heard this same BS the last time the brought changes to the game.....Just designed to suck more money out of your pocket...... Powerball has been going down hill for a long time...by adding Large States that take up more jackpots to adding caps to the Jackpot amounts. This is the end of an era for me.....Powerball is going to get less of my money from now on!
Looks like I won't be playing this game anymore. $1 a game is fine........ $2 a whack is not. Realistically....... Only 50% of every dollar is paid out anyway and the new overall odds will not change that. If the lottery commission wants to stick it to the players, then I just won't play anymore. They just lost a long time customer.
I rather have two bullets to hunt with instead of using just one to make the kill. Made with silver or steal if it hits it kills. Not spending $2 on it. Maybe when it gets to like 200+ millions, then it'll be fun. For now, I'm working on cleaning out Cash 5.
Dont play p/b often,the change would make sure i dont play it at all!
I agree Powerplay is the better option with the new price increase, but you're still paying 50% more for the same amount of tickets. The jackpots will probably set new records because 175 million tickets must be sold just to have a 50% chance the jackpot will be hit. I don't know what the record sales for PB is for one drawing but MM sold only crossed the 200 million tickets sold twice.