Starting from 4 October 2015 Powerball rules of the game are changing. Operator of Powerball American lottery had introduced couple of new exciting modifications to the Powerball game, namely:
First change: New number of balls and new chances of winning in Powerball American lottery
From October 2015. Players would see some changes for both sets of balls, which they use to select their lucky Powerball lottery numbers.
Lottery players have to select 5 main numbers from the main pot of white balls 69 numbers. (previously 59)
Additionally, players have to choose 1 extra number from the second set of 26 red balls, called Powerball number. (previously 35).
So, the number of white balls would increase by 10, and number of red balls would decrease by 9.
Those changes in the number of balls used in Powerball lottery would have a direct impact on chances of winning in Powerball lottery for each prize level. Also, this would influence overall chances of winning any prize.
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Let’s compare new odds of winning to the previous chances of winning in table below.
Chances of winning in USA Powerball American lottery, before and after changes.
| prize divisions | matching range |
before |
after
4.10.2015 |
| 1 jackpot | 5 numbers + powerball |
1:175,223,510 | 1:292,201,338 |
| 2 prize | 5 numbers | 1:5,153,633 | 1:11,688,053 |
| 3 prize | 4 numbers + powerball |
1:648,976 | 1:913,129 |
| 4 prize | 4 numbers | 1:19,088 | 1:36,525 |
| 5 prize | 3 numbers + powerball |
1:12,245 | 1:14,494 |
| 6 prize | 3 numbers | 1:361 | 1:579 |
| 7 prize | 2 numbers + powerball |
1:707 | 1:701 |
| 8 prize | 1 number + powerball |
1:111 | 1:92 |
| 9 prize | only powerball number |
1:56 | 1:38 |
As we can see in table above: The odds of winning main Powerball jackpot prize decreased from 1/175,223,510 to 1/292,201,338
Also, chances of winning top level Powerball prizes decreased.
However the chances of winning smaller Powerball prizes increased. For example, when 1 main number plus powerball number were selected correctly, the chances of winning has been reduced from 1/111 down to 1/92
Also, overall chances of winning a Powerball prizes increased from (1/31.85) to (1/24.87)
To conclude: although the chances of winning main prize would be lower, but at the same time jackpots are more likely to reach much higher amounts. It is predicted, that as a result of recent changes, Powerball lottery main prize might reach levels way beyond $1 billion, soon.
On the other hand side, lottery players participating in Powerball, certainly would enjoy smaller winnings but more frequently.
Addition of a new multiplier 10x for function “PowerPaly” !!!
This is very exciting news for those players, who usually add function “PowerPlay” while playing Powerball lottery. From now it is possible to multiply all prizes (except main prize) by 10 times!!!
For example in case of second prize, it might grow from $1 million USD up to $10 million USD, as long as 10x multiplier “PowerPlay” has been selected.
However, please bear in mind that multiplier 10x is active only when main Powerball jackpot prize is equal or below $150 million USD. Otherwise only multiplier of 2, 3, 4 or 5 would apply.
Increase of third level prize. In Powerball lottery.
The prize for selecting correctly 4 main numbers, increased from $10.000 up to $50.000
This applies to the base prize. But If lottery player activates function “PowerPlay” the final prize might reach much higher levels even up to $500.000, depending on applied multiplier “PowerPlay”