There’s big news from the world of lotteries, people! One of the biggest lottery games in the world, the Powerball Lottery, is being revamped for its 20th year of existence. Note that all changes will be effective as of January 15, 2012. The first change, which probably won’t make people too happy is that prices for lottery tickets will be doubled, from $1 to $2. However, the staring lottery jackpot will also double to $40 million. Lottery results
When the Powerball lottery first came into existence, in April 1992, it was played in 15 states and there was a guaranteed jackpot of $2 million. Let’s just say that things have changed a bit since, and it is now the largest and most famous lottery game in the world. It is now played in 44 states and more than $3 billion worth of Powerball Lottery tickets are being sold every year. Up to this point, the largest ever Powerball jackpot was worth $365 million and was won by 8 co-workers from Nebraska in February 2006.
“Frequently we hear from players suggesting that in addition to Powerball’s big jackpots, we give away more $1 million cash prizes,” Alan Yandow, the Executive Director of the Vermont Lottery, stated. “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.”
The new Powerball Lottery game will give players better chances of winning. Even though the first 5 numbers will still be selected from 59 possible winners, the pool for the Powerball number will be decreased from 39 to 35. That will bring the chances of winning a prize down from 1 in 35 to 1 in 31.8. also, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot will be just a bit better as it will decrease to 1 in 175,223,510. Still quite slim indeed, but at least it is a bit better.
The second prize of the new Powerball game will be 5 times bigger, as it will increase from $200,000 to a cool million. Also, the lowest possible prize (granted to those who only guess the Powerball number) will be elevated from $3 to $4.
Over the last 20 years, more than $33 billion have been generated from sales alone. A large part of the money was, and still is, used to help senior programs, education, environment and other good causes.
