Supersize My Powerball

The Powerball lottery currently played twice a week in 29 American states as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. Virgin Islands, will be expanded in January 2009.

As well as becoming available in the state of Florida, there will be several changes to the game itself. The end result will be a very different ‘supersized’ Powerball that will be loved by some and no doubt hated by others.

The main changes to the game that will take place are:

• Players will be required to select 5 main white numbers from the range 1 to 59 (currently 1 to 55) and one red Powerball from the range 1 to 39 (currently 1 to 42).

• The odds of winning the jackpot will fall from the current 1 in 146.1 million to just 1 in 195.2 million. On a slightly more positive note, the odds of winning any prize will fall from 1 in 36.6 to 1 in 35.1.

• The minimum jackpot will be increased from $15 million to $20 million, making the minimum Powerball jackpot the biggest in the world.

“The net effect is that we are adding one more ball to the drums,” explained Ernie Passailaigue, who is Chairman of the Powerball Group. “With the addition of Florida, Powerball has the chance to become even more exciting by keeping the jackpot levels up where players like to see them, but we also want to do some special things with the game.  Even though many players focus on large Powerball jackpots, we still want to create lots of millionaires and we also want to create more winners with better overall odds.”

Whilst many players will undoubtedly be delighted with the idea of winning even bigger jackpots in 2009 and beyond, my guess is that just as many will decide that the chances of them doing so are becoming far too small to pursue. I’m looking forward to seeing exactly how the new supersized Powerball game goes down with players, as it could influence the way European lottery companies think about developing the World Lottery. Watch this space...

Article Last Updated: 19/08/2008 09:17:04

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