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More Powerball Jackpots Will Reach Hundreds Of Millions, Billions Due To New Game Design

By Charisse Van Horn
Published on: 02:57 PST, Feb 2, 2016

The record-breaking January 13, 2016, Powerball jackpot that climbed to $1.58 billion is most likely not a one-time event. Due to changes in the game that took place in October, 2015, Powerball jackpots will be harder to win, meaning they will continue to roll over and grow at exponential rates. The changes have brought more people to the multi-state lottery game, and Powerball has enjoyed a surge in popularity and play that has brought more revenue to participating states.

The Texas Lottery released a statement in October explaining the new design and the changes that would come to Powerball jackpots. Though the game changed, the price per ticket remained $2 with the Power Play costing an additional $1.

” ‘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,’ said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery.”

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot have changed due to the redesign, called Powerball 7.0. There are other changes for smaller prizes, too. Since the jackpot is harder to win, the chances of winning smaller prizes increased. Another change is with the third Powerball prize that has increased from $10,000 to $50,000, as well as the Power Play that has increased up to 10x.

The press release explained how the changes to the Power Play will impact the Powerball game.

“The game’s Power Play option will get a big expansion with a 10X feature when jackpots in the game are at lower levels. Currently, players can multiply many prizes by up to five times by adding the Power Play option to their purchase for an extra $1 per play. Under the new design, the Power Play option will be expanded to multiply most prizes (except the jackpot and Match 5 level) by up to 10 times whenever the game’s initially advertised annuitized jackpot is $150 million or less. The Match 5 prize of $1 million will continue to double to $2 million with the Power Play added.

“The Power Play numbers available will be 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X and 10X when the jackpot is $150 million or less. Only the first four multipliers will be in play when the jackpot is higher than that.

“How Power Play will work:

“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.”

The largest Powerball jackpot in U.S. history took place on January 13, 2016. As of the time of this writing, there hasn’t been another Powerball jackpot winner since the historic, billion dollar jackpot had rolled since November 15, 2015, showing just how difficult it is to win the jackpots since the changes took effect.

Previously, Powerball was played by selecting five white balls with numbers from 1-59 and a red ball, called the Powerball, with a number from 1-35. Those numbers have changed and with Powerball 7.0, players choose five white balls from the numbers 1-69 and one red Powerball between the numbers 1 and 26. Powerball has become one of nation’s most popular jackpot games, and there is always demand to keep the game fresh, new, and exciting. The changes attributed to the largest Powerball jackpot in history and sparked Powerball fever nationwide.

Gary Grief explained the need to keep Powerball fresh and exciting.

“With Powerball’s success comes demand for innovation to keep the game fresh. The playing population of Powerball has almost doubled in recent years and these changes reflect a right-sizing of the game for the current population that is playing the game.”

Though Powerball has changed, learning to play isn’t difficult or cumbersome. There are nine ways to win, including matching all white numbers and the red Powerball to claim the jackpot prize. The “How To Guy” made a video that shows how to play Powerball, that actually breaks it down step-by-step, and shows the ticket, instructions, and how to pay for your Powerball ticket in a convenience store or other lottery retailer.

https://youtu.be/XfewQmeigh4

Did you play Powerball before the redesign? Have you noticed any changes? Do you prefer Powerball 7.0 with its larger jackpots to the older versions of the game?

[Photo by Stockernumber2/Shutterstock]

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