US Powerball
What is the Powerball Lotto?
The US Powerball is a popular American lottery game with draws every Wednesday and Saturday in 44 states across the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington DC. Due to its incredibly large prize pool, Powerball jackpot amounts can climb to staggering sizes. In the year 2015, Powerball became an even bigger and better jackpot to play after changes were applied to the game. Five what balls are now drawn out of a drum with 69 balls and one red ball is drawn out of a drum with 26 red balls. This means that the game can have bigger jackpots, and the odds of winning a consolation prize are higher. Due to these changes, Powerball is no longer the “little sister” to Mega Millions.
How did it originate?
Before “Powerball” came about, its predecessor began in 1988, and it was called “Lotto America”. The name was changed on April 19th, 1992. When Powerball was officially launched in 1992, it was the first lottery game to use two drums. Mostly all jackpots these days now use two drums. One drum is for the usual five numbers, and the extra drum is to choose the extra bonus number.
From 1992 through to 2008, Powerball drawings were usually held at Screenscape Studios in Wes Des Moines, Iowa. In January 2012, there was a format change. The red balls decreased from 39 to 25. The drawings were also moved from Universal Studios in Orlando to Florida Lottery’s studios in Tallahassee.
The changes to the game were introduced in order to have much bigger jackpots, more often. In October 2014, Puerto Rico joined Powerball which is a mainly Spanish-speaking jurisdiction offering the game. It still has not joined Mega Millions yet, though.
How big is it today?
Big. Very big. Due to the format changes Powerball usually reached 9-figure jackpots. On the 13th of January, 2016, the world’s largest jackpot was won. The annuity was worth about $1.6 billion and was shared between three winning tickets. There is currently no income tax in Florida or Tennessee. Millions of people all over the world play Powerball, even if they do not reside in the United States. They can still play online by using a concierge service purchasing tickets on their behalf.
Who can play Powerball?
Anyone over the legal age of gambling can play Powerball. The legal ages differ in countries around the world. United States citizens can play Powerball, as well as people online by using a lottery ticket service. These services charge you a price that is a little more than a normal ticket in the US, but that is because they have to get the ticket on your behalf. The price you pay is for the service. Most players are okay with that because otherwise if these services never existed, they wouldn’t be able to enter the world’s biggest jackpots.
When can I play Powerball?
Powerball draws take place every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:50 pm GMT. For Eastern Time they take place on Wednesday and Saturday, too. Results from these Powerball draws are not made official until they have been audited by the accounting firm, LWBJ, LLP.
Powerball Prize Structure
There are nine ways to win big in Powerball. Even if you don’t hit the jackpot, you still have a very good chance of landing yourself a consolation prize. Here are the prize tiers and what it takes to win big in each category:
Match 5 main numbers and the Powerball – you win the jackpot
Match 5 main numbers – you win $1 million
Match four numbers and the Powerball – you win $50,000
Match four numbers – you win $100
Match three numbers and the Powerball – you win $100
Match three numbers – you win $7
Match two numbers and the Powerball – you win $7
Match one number and the Powerball – you win $4
Match just the Powerball – you win $4
The Biggest Wins
The US Powerball has had seven big wins over the recent years. They were:
- $1.6 billion on the 13th of January 2016
- $590 million on the 18th of May 2013
- $517.5 million on the 28th of November 2012
- $564 million on the 11th of February 2015
- $487 million on the 30th of July 2016
- $448 million on the 7th of August 2013
- $429 million on the 7th of May 2016
- Distribution of Revenue
Where does all the Powerball money go? Well, the lottery system essentially acts as a form of tax. A majority of the profit made from the Powerball lottery goes towards American state education systems. 50% goes to jackpot winners, 5% goes to the administration of lottery, 5% goes to state general funds, and 29% goes towards education. The remaining 11% is “other”.
How to play Powerball
The object of playing the US Powerball is to choose a total of six numbers and hope that those numbers drawn match the ones you have chosen on your ticket.
The easiest way to play with the highest number of wins resulting from it, is the quick pick method. Using this method, the computer generates your numbers for you at random. Should you choose to manually select your own lucky numbers, you will need to choose five different numbers between 1 and 69. You also need to choose a Powerball number (bonus number) from between 1 to 26. Your Powerball number can be the same as any of the five selected numbers before. You can do this because the bonus ball is chosen from a separate pool.
If you win a jackpot, you have the option of receiving the money as either a cash lump sum, or annuity. With the lump sum option, you may receive the full amount of the jackpot once-off, as soon as federal taxes have been deducted from it. With the annuity option, you will receive your winnings over a period of 30 years.
Biggest Winners Stories
1 – $1.6 billion Powerball winners
There were three winners who shared this history-making jackpot. The winners were from Florida, California, and Tennessee.
The first winning ticket we’ll discuss belonged to Marvin and Mae Acosta. These two winners came from Chino Hills, California. It took the winners six month for them to come to one of the lottery headquarters. When they finally did, the lottery officials advised them to do what all previous winners did – to read the Winner’s Handbook and assemble a team of financial advisors to help them make the most of their life-changing wealth.
The winners bought their winning ticket at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills. The couple chose to accept their prize in the form of a lump sum. The retailer who sold them the winning ticket also got a staggering prize to the value of $1 million. The winners declined requests for interviews but they did say in a statement that they were extremely thankful and blessed for this rare gift.
The second winner was Maureen Smith, age 70, who started a Trust called “The Nickel 95 Trust”. She is from Florida. Maureen stated that she had been playing the same lottery numbers for years and years although she never watched the draws live. She only remembered to check her ticket a few days after the draw. Maureen shops at Publix, which is located at 3830 Highway A1A in Melbourne Beach.
Maureen tried to keep her news a secret for a few weeks, but admitted that it was very difficult. The store that sold the winning lottery ticket won $100,000.
The third winners were a couple from Tennessee. They arrived at the Tennessee Lottery headquarters in Nashville to claim their share of the prize, which was also an incredible $528.8 million. Their names are Lisa and John Robinson. They also have a daughter Tiffany, and a dog Abby. Lisa mentioned that she was excited and overwhelmed. They chose to receive their winnings as a lump sum.
2 – $590 million Powerball winner
This lucky winner won the entire jackpot to herself. Her name is Gloria C. Mackenzie and she is from Florida. The elderly woman revealed that she was waiting for another person to buy a ticket when they let her jump the line.
She was 84 at the time of her win. “We are grateful for this blessing of winning the Florida jackpot…We hope that everyone will give us an opportunity to maintain our privacy for our family’s benefit,” she said.
She took the lump sum option of $370.8 million before taxes. It took her two weeks to come in and claim her prize. She went to the lottery headquarters with her son, Scott, a financial advisor, and a lawyer. Gloria didn’t want any press or media coverage. She asked for her privacy. She didn’t disclose any plans for spending her money, but she did mention that she wants to donate some to a worthy cause.
3 – $587.5 million Powerball winner
This jackpot was won by two ticketholders: Matthew Good of Arizona, and the other winners were Cindy and Mark Hill from Missouri. Matthew is a 37-year old man who won his share of the $587 million Powerball jackpot.
Matthew used to work as an electronics industry professional who grew up in a modest home in Pennsylvania and then moved to a wealthy suburb in Phoenix after he struck gold with Powerball.
The other winning ticketholders were Cindy and Mark Hill from Missouri.
Keep an eye out for Mega Millions scams
As an online lottery player, you must always be aware that there are people out there with bad intentions. They will try to trick you in the best way they can into giving them your hard-earned money. Con-artists are very convincing and cunning these days, so you must always be on your guard.
The most important thing to remember is that if you ever win a jackpot, you are never EVER required to pay anything for the release of your winnings. Also, if you cannot remember entering any lottery games, then that’s the first warning that someone is trying to scam you.
The Powerball scams usually present themselves in the form of an advance-fee fraud where victims are contacted by the scammer and told that they have won a huge prize. The fraudster convinces the victim that the win is legitimate, and that is how they extort personal information.
The fraudsters are successful in their ploys because they play on the emotions of victims. They truly feel as though they have won large sums of money and they are too excited to be sceptic about the situation.
Here’s how to identify a Powerball lottery scam:
They can take many forms, but there are some common trends among them.
- A letter or email is sent to the victim. It is printed on poor-quality paper and it has many spelling and grammar mistakes. The letter has the introduction “Dear Winner/Dear Reader” because they don’t actually know your real name.
- A fake check. This can be attached to the letter or as an email attachment. The victim will only know it is a fake check after going to the bank to cash it in.
- Any pressure on the victim to send personal information and fees to release winnings. They will also ask you to remain quiet about it “for your safety”, but really, it’s for theirs so they don’t get caught by the police.
- Phone scams. They call you and dupe you into believing you are a winner. They usually dial from Jamaica and hide their caller ID.
- Text message scams. They will ask you to call a certain number to get your winnings. If you call the number, you will receive a nasty bill.
- Social Media Scams. They may tell you that your account was chosen at random to win a prize. They then ask for your personal information.
Don’t ever send any money or personal information to strangers. If you think you have come across a Powerball scam, do not contact or engage with the fraudster.
You can send a message to your country’s police department to alert them about the fraudster.