US Powerball

US Powerball truly is one of the world’s premier lotteries with a massive minimum jackpot of $40 million USD (approx. $53 million) on offer every week with draws taking place Wednesday and Friday night in the US. Most lotteries across the world would dream to have a jackpot grow to $40 million, let alone have it as their minimum jackpot. The popularity of US Powerball resulted in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK all setting up their own versions of the popular lottery format.

US Powerball is so massive that in January 2016 it broke the record for the biggest jackpot worldwide. The jackpot got to a huge $1.58 billion USD (approx. $2.1 billion)! In addition to the jackpot there are nine prize divisions on offer. Players can choose to buy a Power Play ticket that doubles the $1 million secondary prize and multiplies other prize categories by up to 10 times, depending on the draw and the jackpot size. Like most lotteries in Australia, many of the proceeds from the US Powerball go toward charities. This should make you feel better even if you don’t win.

How to Play

For Powerball, numbers are drawn from 2 machines – the first contains 69 balls numbered from 1 to 69 of which six balls are drawn, and the second machine contains 26 ‘Powerballs’ numbered from 1 to 26 of which one ball is drawn. In a standard game, players choose six numbers from the first range of 1 to 69 and one Powerball number between 1 to 26. To win the jackpot, a player must correctly guess all six standard numbers as well as the Powerball.

Taxes

US taxes range between 38% and 44.17% (depending on the state) on any winnings over $600 USD for US residents. There is a flat tax rate of 30% for non-residents.

Odds of Winning

Odds of winning a prize are 1 in 38, and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.

You can play US Powerball at www.lottoland.com.au, www.thelotter.com or www.playhugelottos.com