How to Play the Lottery Game Powerball
The world’s most popular lottery game, Powerball offers players a chance to win life-changing jackpots three nights a week. For $2 a ticket, you can choose five white balls between 1 and 69 and one red number called the Powerball between 1 and 26.
The Powerball drawing is held Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 pm ET. Tickets can be purchased until 9:48 pm online and 9:50 pm in stores on the night of the drawing.
Playing Powerball is easy. For just $2 a ticket, you can choose five numbers and a Powerball number in a “quick pick” feature. You can also purchase an additional $1 per play to add Power Play, which increases the non-jackpot prize multiplier by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times.
Adding Power Play to your ticket is a great way to increase your chances of winning, but you must add it at the time of purchasing your ticket and you cannot apply Power Play after the drawing takes place. In addition, you must be a resident of the state you are playing in to take advantage of this feature.
Your odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million. But the odds of matching all six numbers are much lower.
You can buy a Powerball ticket in 45 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as well as in the United States Virgin Islands. The federal government requires that Powerball’s proceeds be distributed to education and other public benefit projects.
When you select your numbers, you can choose them by verbally communicating them to the retailer or by filling out a Powerball play slip. You can also use the Quick Pick feature, which lets a computerized system randomly select your numbers.
Some retailers also allow you to choose the Powerball number without completing a play slip, which is a great option if you are a busy person and need to get your tickets quickly. This is especially useful if you are traveling or don’t have time to fill out multiple sets of numbers.
You’ll have to pay an extra $1 for Power Play, but that’s worth it if you have a chance at winning the jackpot. You can add it to your ticket by marking “POWER PLAY -YES” on your play slip or if you ask the retailer to enter it through the terminal.
In addition to the jackpot, Powerball has nine other prizes available, including an instant cash prize, a multi-state grand prize and a ten-year annuity. The top prize is $1.5 billion, but the largest prize has only reached $1.9 billion twice in its history.
The other prizes are paid out on a parimutuel basis, meaning that the total amount won is divided among winners in each participating jurisdiction. The jackpot, however, is paid out only if the money in the prize pool is sufficient to cover the cost of the top prize.
If you win a prize, you must claim it within the time period set by your selling lottery. The amount of time varies from state to state, but you must claim it before the prize is awarded or else it will be redistributed to other players. In some cases, you may be required to present a photo ID or proof of residence. You can also contact your state’s lottery office for more information. 파워볼사이트