Powerball Lottery Online Review

If you are into lottery games, you know about one of the world’s most popular one—the US Powerball lottery. And we are pretty sure you have already played it. But if you are new and you are looking for a review of the Powerball lottery, then this Powerball review will go over quite a lot of interesting stuff. From the history of this lottery, the draws and odds of winnings, lottery jackpots values, how it is played, how to claim your prizes, to lots of other helpful information you have to know before you start playing.

With that said, let’s start with the history of the lottery and its early beginnings.

The United States Powerball History

Powerball lottery is an American game that is played in 45 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. This lottery is approved and coordinated by the MUSL – Multi-State Lottery Association – which is a nonprofit organization founded in December 1987 by lobbyists and US corporations.

The fact that speaks for Powerball’s credibility is definitely that it was established in February 1988 and it has been enjoying high popularity ever since. In its first draw that year only 34 states have taken part, while later on, that number climbed to today’s 45.

The lottery was first referred to as US Powerball Double Drums, but in April 1992, Lotto America changed the name of the lottery to US Powerball, and along with some revolutionary changes in the lottery, this became one of the most-played lotteries in the US and later in the world. In fact, the drums with balls that are so known in the lottery world today were first introduced in the US Powerball Lottery and that changed the face of worldwide lotteries forever.

As the years passed and this lottery became a household name, more and more features in the players’ benefit were added, such as the minimum jackpot amount and then later the rollover caps were completely eliminated. Thanks to this change with the rollovers, now the US Powerball lottery reaches some amazing heights that other games (if any) rarely reach. For instance, in 2015 there was a $1.5-billion jackpot that accumulated as a result of twenty consecutive rollovers. This and a few other Powerball’s jackpots broke international records motivating more and more people to play.

History of Powerball Lottery Rules

Until 2015, the lottery pretty much held to its old rules of play, but since October 7 that year, the US Powerball lottery started using a 5/69 (white balls) + 1/26 (Powerballs) matrix from which winning numbers are chosen. This made the winnings of a jackpot in one draw a 1 in 292,201,338.

Originally Powerball lottery plays were priced at $1 but now the PowerPlay options are priced at $2 or $3 depending on which option you select. As we said before, the minimum jackpot is $20 million, and should someone win, they can get 30 graduated payments (Powerball’s annuity) or the lottery winner can go for the lump sum instead.

However, the reason why it may be smarter to go with the 30 graduated payments for your winnings is that the lump sum is less than the total of the 30 payments because of the time value of money and because the lottery winner will have to pay larger taxes to the large sum. But if they opt for the smaller instalments, they will pay fewer taxes.

US Powerball Lottery Drawing Time

Each Powerball lottery draw is held on Wednesday and Saturday evening at 10:59 PM Eastern Time. The draws occur at the Florida Lottery’s Tallahassee studio in Orland and the hosts are Sam Arlen and Laura Johnson.

Note that the bets stop selling at 10:00 PM Eastern Time, an hour prior to the draw, and some lottery sellers may cut them even earlier.

How To Play US Powerball Lottery

Powerball lottery is very easy to play and it only costs $2 per play which is the minimum bet. For each draw, the players pick from five numbers in a set of 69 white balls with numbers between 1 and 69 and one number from 1 to 26 of the red Powerballs to complete their entry. The red ball entry can be in the same number as one of the numbers from the white balls.

If you cannot decide what numbers to pick, you can use their generator that selects numbers randomly. You can also track what the hottest winning numbers have been in the past along with the coldest Powerball lottery digits and may select a combination of both. Statistics plainly show that your chances of winning are nearly the same whether you are choosing your own numbers or using the generator.

All the bets have the white ball numbers in ascending order and you cannot use the drawn Powerball lottery to match two other numbers. In each draw, there are two drums that pick the winning numbers. In one there are the white balls while the second has the red power balls. First, they draw the five white balls and then the one red is drawn from the other machine.

To be considered a winner of any prize, you need to have at least three white balls or the red Powerball. When the machine starts rolling, inside are eight ball sets and before the game, it is decided what set of colors will be in play. The balls are then propelled around the chamber, and when one is selected, it is sent up the shaft and down the rail to be displayed.

Such a method of selecting numbers is the most straightforward and fair gameplay in lotteries today.

Online US Powerball Lottery Bets

If you are lucky to select the five white numbers and the one red number correctly, you are in for the jackpot. If you miss one of the numbers, you will be getting the second-best prize and so on down the cascading scale. And since there are no limiting caps, the jackpot from the guaranteed $20 million can roll over to considerable amounts.

Additionally to the set of features in the Powerball lottery that changed worldwide lotteries, one other feature was introduced in the 2000s – the Power Play winnings multiplier.

This feature multiplies lower-tier winnings, like any win that is not the jackpot or the second-tier prize, by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 10x giving its players the chance to score a great prize even if they haven’t gotten five or six numbers correctly.

If you decide to play the Power Play multiplier, you will pay an additional $1 per line and this is a small price to pay when you know your win can be multiplied sometimes even by 10x. That way if you win $50,000, which let’s face it when taken the $20 million jackpot into consideration is nothing, and then for spending an extra $1 you can win up to $500,000. That is surely worth it!

Odds Of Winning at The US Powerball Lottery Online Jackpot

As we mentioned before, the odds of winning the Powerball lottery jackpot based on the latest number of digits to select from are 1 in 292,201,388. The odds may seem high but when compared to other lotteries like the Mega Millions whose odds are 1 in 302,575,350 and Italy’s SuperEnaLotto odds of 1 in 622,614,630, this still gives hope to the millions of people around the globe playing it bi-weekly.

And even if the odds for winning a jackpot might be quite high, you still have a decent chance to win the second-tier prize which is quite rewarding, especially with the power play feature.

Powerball Lottery Changes in Game Odds of Winning

In 2015 some significant changes took place in the Powerball lottery. Until then the lottery player could select from a pool of 59 white balls while the red balls pool had 35 balls. Then they increased the white ball pool from 59 to 69 and decreased the red pool from 35 to 26.

This fell in favor of the players because it increased the chances of winning any price at 1 in 24 but it also increases the jackpot odds to 1 in 292,201,338. Before that, your chances of winning the jackpot were higher, while winning any prize was not as easily reachable.

Also, if you match 4+1 lottery numbers, you can win $50,000 and the PowerPlay with 10x multiplier is available when the jackpot prize is under $150 million. And since at that time the rollover cap was removed, several months later there was a $1.5 billion jackpot that doubled their previous jackpot record prize after 20 consecutive draws.

The Most Commonly Drawn Powerball Lottery Numbers

Although stats change regularly, here are the most commonly drawn white-ball numbers as of recently in the online lottery are 26, 32, 41, 23, 16, 28, 22, 42, 45, and 9, whereas in the red-ball drum we can most commonly see the following numbers: 21, 24, 3, 6, 13, 9, 25, 10, 22, and 4.

Powerball Lottery Payout Chart

Biggest Jackpots in The US Powerball Lottery

Throughout the years, Powerball has broken many records with their jackpots which were not in the millions like many other worldwide lotteries but in the billions instead. Here are some of the most notable Powerball lottery jackpot prize wins:

• $1.6 billion won on January 13, 2016, and was split among three winners in Chino Hills, California, Munford, Tennessee, and Melbourne Beach, Florida.
• $758.7 million won on August 23, 2017 split among two winners
• $687.8 million won on October 27, 2018

Payout Options

For considerable amounts of money in the US Powerball lottery like the jackpot, winners can choose to take the whole lump sum on their account at once or install the annuity option. With the annuity payments, you pay fewer taxes, but the money will be paid to you in 30 years. However, although that may seem like a lot of time, the jackpots are huge and you will still receive a good amount of money annually. Plus, this way you are less likely to spend all your prize quickly as many other winners have in the past.

Taxes

Speaking of taxes, any payout option you pick, you will pay taxes to the money. If you are in the US, depending on where you purchased your bets, you may be subject to just the federal tax or the federal tax and a state tax. This is why doing good research is worth it to know which payout option to choose. And if playing from anywhere else in the world, different tax laws may apply once you transfer the money into your bank account, so inform yourself with the local authorities.

Playing US Powerball Lottery Online and Buying Bets

When you buy a physical bet in the US, you can do so from a lottery agent in kiosks, grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores all across the country. You can even buy them online in the states of Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania from the vast majority of online lotto sites. Once you buy your bet you fill out the slip with the numbers of your choice or use the number generator and pay depending on which feature you select.

On the other hand, when you play online from abroad the first and foremost thing you have to check is whether that site is legit or not. There are many lottery scam websites looking to scam players, so only buy bets from trusted lottery sites with a legit lottery agent.

US Powerball Lottery: Would We Recommend It?

After reading many comments and reviews on lottery sites from lottery agents and doing research into the legitimacy of this lottery, we can safely conclude that Powerball online lottery is absolutely legit and we would recommend it for any of you dreaming to be lottery winners. The jackpot prizes are record-breaking and the odds aren’t as high as with some of the other lottery games, and with the multiplier, you truly have a decent chance of multiplying your lottery prizes.

The bet price is very reasonable whether you are buying from lottery agents at lottery sites or a store, and given that they use innovative dual-drum mechanics that give equal odds to all players, we would say playing the US Powerball online lottery is absolutely worth it.

No matter where you are in the world, there are only a handful of lotteries that come close to the US Powerball with the same fun and exciting draws. This makes millions of people across the globe play it through various lottery sites regularly, topping the jackpot to sky-rocketing heights.

If you ask any American to name at least one lottery, chances are they will say Powerball. That’s because it is one of the most popular lotteries in the country, if not the world. Most Americans have played it at least once in their life. What is it exactly? How do you play it? What are the odds of winning, and has anyone ever won the grand prize? Find out below!

Check Powerball results and winning numbers, monitor Powerball jackpots, and see the latest news, tips, and strategies on all your favorite lottery games with Online Lotto Sites!

About Powerball

Powerball wasn’t always as we know it today. Its predecessor, Lotto America, was established in 1988 and entertained people in the US for four years before changing to Powerball. Players participating in Lotto America chose seven numbers out of a pool of 40. The odds of winning and matching all seven numbers were 1 in almost 18 million; however, they were awarded a prize even if they matched just four. Later on, the rules were changed a bit, and the players had to choose six balls from a pool of 54, which improved the chances of winning the jackpot.

The name was changed to Powerball on April 19, 1992, and the first draw of the new lottery happened on April 22 of the same year. Interestingly, Powerball was the first lottery to use two drums instead of just one.

Powerball is a multi-state lottery. The lottery tickets can be purchased in 45 states (you can’t play in Nevada, Utah, Alaska, and Alabama), as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

How to Play Powerball

To play Powerball, you need to select five numbers from a range between 1 and 69 (white balls) and one number from 1 to 26 (the red Powerball). You can decide to either choose the numbers on your own or let the lottery pick out random numbers for you. In order to win, you have to match at least the Powerball or Powerball and one white ball.

If you want to win bigger prizes, you can opt for Power Play, which multiplies the winnings (unless it’s a jackpot) by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times. The multiplier number is randomly chosen before each drawing. However, keep in mind the 10x multiplier is in play only when the Powerball jackpot annuity is $150 million or less. Also, the Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million, no matter what multiplier number is selected.

If you want to play the same numbers in more than one drawing, you can play in the Multi-Draw – how many drawings in advance you can play depends on the jurisdiction in which you are buying the lottery ticket, so you might want to check that out in advance.

Powerball Drawing Schedule

Powerball has a very regular drawing schedule. The Powerball drawings are held two times a week – on Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 ET at Universal Studio in Orlando.

Powerball Payouts and Odds of Winning

There are nine ways in which you can win the Powerball lottery. Here is a short overview of the ways to win, their payouts, as well as what are the odds of winning:

• Powerball – $4; odds are 1 in 38.32
• Powerball + 1 white ball – $4; odds are 1 in 91.98
• Powerball + 2 white balls – $7; odds are 1 in 701.33
• 3 white balls – $7; odds are 1 in 579.76
• Powerball + 3 white balls – $100; odds are 1 in 14,494.11
• 4 white balls – $100; odds are 1 in 36,525.17
• Powerball + 4 white balls – $50,000; odds are 1 in 913,129.18
• 5 white balls – $1 million; odds are 1 in 11,688,053.52
• Powerball + 5 white balls – jackpot; odds are 1 in 292,201,338

The overall odds of winning any of the prizes in the lottery are 1 in 24.87. Depending on what Power Play number was chosen on the day of the drawing, the prices can multiply by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 – the only exception is when you match five numbers from the white balls – then the prize is always $2 million.

Powerball FAQ

When Is the Powerball Drawing?

The Powerball drawing is held twice a week – on Wednesday and Saturday, at 10:59 ET at Universal Studio in Orlando.

Can I Buy the Powerball Ticket Online?

Yes, there are some lotteries that sell Powerball tickets online. However, the ability to buy a ticket is restricted to the residents of that jurisdiction. It is not legal for individuals to sell tickets online and send them by mail across jurisdictional borders. In fact, lotteries can refuse to let the person claim the prize if the ticket they present comes from a website different than their own.

What to Do If I Win the Powerball – How To Claim the Prize?

Prizes need to be claimed in the jurisdiction that the winning ticket was bought in. Where you will be able to claim it, depends mostly on how much you won. Prizes lower than $600 can generally be claimed at any licensed lottery retailer. Prizes higher than that (including jackpot prizes) should be claimed either at a lottery office or in the lottery headquarters. In order to get the most precise information on how to claim a prize, you should contact your lottery.

How Many Numbers Do You Need To Win Powerball?

To win the Powerball jackpot, you need to match five numbers from the white balls, as well as the Powerball number. However, to win any prize, you can just match the Powerball or the Powerball and one number from the white balls.

Has Anyone Ever Won Powerball?

Yes, there have been plenty of jackpot winners, with the latest one happening in June of 2021 – the winner claimed a $286 million prize in Tallahassee, Florida.

The biggest Powerball jackpot ever was awarded in January of 2016. The considerable amount of $1.586 billion was won by three players. The winners were from California, Florida, and Tennessee).

What If No One Wins?

If no one wins the estimated jackpot, the money will be moved to the next game, and the jackpot will continue to increase. Since Powerball lottery does not have an established limit for the maximum jackpot sum, the numbers will continue to grow with each drawing until someone finally matches the winning numbers.

What Are the Chances of the Top Prize?

The odds of winning the jackpot and matching all Powerball lottery numbers is 1 in 292,201,338.

What Are the Overall Odds of Winning?

The chances of winning any prize in the Powerball lottery are 1 in 24.87.