Remember the mammoth, recording breaking US Powerball jackpot of $1.6 billion in January 2016? How could anyone forget, it was practically a defining moment in lottery history.
Well, from now on those who purchase US Powerball tickets will have even more of a chance of winning from a billion-dollar jackpot, thanks to all the new rules, odds and changes made to the modern game of US Powerball.
Before the change, US Powerball players would choose from five white balls from 1-59 plus the red Powerball from 1-35. Now, we must pick five numbers from 1-69 and a Powerball from 1-26.
Last year in October 2015, the Texas lottery explained why this classic lottery game had to be revamped.
Powerball has been revamped seven other times in its 23-year history so that the game can continue to be attractive to players by delivering the big jackpots that players want, and these new changes will do just that," Now that the odds have changed, the smaller prizes have increased as well! For instance, the third runner-up US Powerball prize is now $50 000 (up from $10 000) and the optional Power Play increases to 10x (up from 5x)! Other Power Play options (which only apply when the US Powerball jackpot is $150 million or less) includes 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x. Here's how it works:
If the jackpot is at $100 million for a particular drawing and a player wins a $50,000 prize for matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball, if the player also added the Power Play option to their winning play, their prize will be multiplied. If 10X is selected as the Power Play number in that night's drawing, the player's $50,000 prize will be multiplied to $500,000.
Thanks in no small part to the immense popularity of US Powerball, the player base has doubled in recent years and the Lottery must innovate in order to keep its lottery ticket buyers happy.
