The Game

The US Powerball game is offered by 44 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and has a minimum jackpot of $40 million.

The game takes places twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 10.59pm Eastern Time.

In October 2015 the game was revamped so that five white balls from 69 are chosen, and one from 26 red Powerballs.

To win the full jackpot players must match five numbers plus the Powerball. The  odds of winning are 292,201,338 to one . By matching the Powerball only, players can win a small prize of $4 at odds of 55.41 to 1.

The US Powerball began life in 1988 as Lotto America. The game changed its name and format on April 19th 1992 and the first US Powerball draw took place on 22nd April 1992.

The minimum bet to play is $2 and players pick one number from the white balls, from one to 69, and one from the red Powerballs, from one to 26.

Powerplay

By paying an extra $1 with each $2 bet, players can activate the Powerplay. Powerplay is a multiplier option that multiplies lower tier winnings by up to five or 10 times when the jackpot is under $150 million.

The Powerplay number is drawn separately from the six draw numbers.

With Powerplay activated, a 5 number match without the Powerball can double the prize amount from $1 million to $2 million.

License and Operation

The Multi-State Lottery association (MUSL) co-ordinates the US Powerball lottery game. The MUSL is a non-profit organisation formed by agreement by US lotteries.

Interesting Facts

The US Powerball produced the biggest lottery jackpot in history on January 13th 2016 when $1,586,000,000 was shared between three ticket holders from Chino Hills, California, Munford Tennessee and Melbourne Beach, Florida.