Powerball was launched in Australia by Tattersall’s on May 25 1996, and was designed to give Australian players a lottery game similar to that enjoyed by players of the immensely popular Powerball game in the USA. The draw takes place every Thursday and the jackpot pool is always worth a guaranteed minimum of $3 million.

In order for a player to win the Powerball jackpot, they must correctly select 5 main balls from 1 to 45 and 1 Powerball number from 1 to 45. The main numbers and the Powerball numbers are drawn from separate machines, so players can choose a Powerball number which is the same as one of their main numbers if they wish to do so. If a player doesn’t match all five numbers and the Powerball they can still win a lesser prize, as illustrated in the table below:

Division	How to Win	Odds of Winning
First	Match 5 main numbers + the Powerball number	1 in 27,489,578
Second	Match 5 main numbers	1 in 624,763
Third	Match 4 main numbers + the Powerball number	1 in 137,448
Fourth	Match 3 main numbers + the Powerball number	1 in 3,524
Fifth	Match 4 main numbers	1 in 3,124
Sixth	Match 2 main numbers + the Powerball number	1 in 278
Seventh	Match 3 main numbers	1 in 80
Odds of winning any prize		1 in 60

If no player wins the First Division prize, the prize fund for that division is rolled over to the following draw. There can be a maximum of twenty-five consecutive rollovers, and this means that jackpots can be enormous after a few weeks without a winner. If the maximum number of rollovers is achieved and there is still no winner of a First Division prize, the fund is “rolled down” to the next highest division that does have one or more winners.

Australian Powerball players can enter the game by completing a Powerball play slip from a Tattersall’s retailer. If a player does not want to pick their own numbers, a Quick Pick option will select numbers at random when the ticket is purchased from the retailer. Players who are outside Australia who want to participate can buy their tickets online.