FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

 

CONTACT: David Workman         

(208) 334-2600

 

Powerball Game set to Change in January with Better Overall Odds

 

Boise – Powerball, the world’s best known jackpot lottery game and the largest single lottery game played in Idaho will be making improvements to the game beginning with the draw on Wednesday, January 7, 2009.

 

“Our players have asked us to structure Powerball so that we create more winning experiences and still have large winning jackpots,” said Jeff Anderson, Director of the Idaho Lottery. “The improvements we’ll see in January deliver what players want: better overall odds of winning a prize, the ability for the game to create more millionaires, and have larger average jackpots.”

 

Some of the key highlights to Powerball’s improvements are:

 

1.     The starting jackpot will increase from $15 million to $20 million making Powerball the world’s largest starting lotto-game jackpot.

2.     The average winning jackpot will increase from $95.5 million to an expected average of $141 million.

3.     The “Match 5” prize with the PowerPlay option now has a guaranteed 5X multiplier, pushing the second prize with the PowerPlayoption to $1 million. This $1 million prize will be paid in cash, in one lump sum.

4.     The overall odds of the game have been reduced to one in 35.1 to add more than 3 million extra winning prizes per year.

5.     PowerPlay continues to be available on all other non-jackpot prize levels (2X to 5X).

 

“The price of a Powerball ticket remains unchanged at $1.  Even though our players know that the cost of everything else has gone up since Powerball sales commenced over 16 years ago, we didn’t want to raise Powerball’s price in our current economy,” explained Anderson.  “Powerball players will continue to have the option to play the game for $1 or to play the game with enhanced prizes for $2 by using PowerPlay.”

 

“Powerball is the most widely played Lottery game in Idaho,” added Anderson. “Nearly 75 percent of all Idaho Lottery players bought a Powerball ticket in the last year.”

 

In January, the Florida Lottery will join Powerball.  Since the last time the Powerball game was updated in August 2005, the North Carolina and Oklahoma Lotteries have also joined the game. 

 

To implement the game improvements and accommodate the population growth for Powerball, the game’s basic prize structure matrix will change.  Four white ball numbers will be added to the game’s current field of 55 for a total of 59 while three red Powerball numbers will be removed for a total of 39.  The odds of winning the jackpot will be 1 in 195.2 million. The overall odds of winning any prize will improve to 1 in 35. This change should produce another three million prize winners throughout the game each year nationwide. The game changes will also make it easier for players to win $1 million.

 

“Any player who purchases the PowerPlay option and matches all 5 of the white ball numbers will automatically win five times the Match 5 prize,” explained Anderson. “Had this been in effect last year, the Idaho Lottery would have produced three additional new millionaires.”

 

PowerPlay is a $1 per play add-on feature that multiplies all non-jackpot winning Powerball tickets from 2 to 5 times, depending on the number selected for that particular draw.  Beginning with the changes in January, any “Match 5” winning tickets that have the PowerPlayoption will automatically win five times the prize, regardless of the multiplier for that draw. 

 

This Wednesday night’s $25 million Powerball draw is the last night players can purchase a ticket good for the next 10 draws until January 4, 2009.   Each subsequent draw will reduce the number of advance purchases by one draw until the game change occurs.  Multi-draw tickets for Hot Lotto Sizzler, Wild Card, and Idaho Pick 3 remain unaffected by the change to Powerball.

 

“Powerball’s appeal is that it costs only $1 to play and it allows players to imagine winning millions,” added Anderson.”

 

Powerball was launched in April 1992.  The 32 lotteries offering the new game are: Arizona Lottery, Colorado Lottery, Connecticut Lottery Corporation, D.C. Lottery (District of Columbia), Delaware Lottery, Florida Lottery, Idaho Lottery, Hoosier Lottery (Indiana), Iowa Lottery, Kansas Lottery, Kentucky Lottery Corporation, Louisiana Lottery Corporation, Maine Lottery, Minnesota State Lottery, Missouri Lottery, Montana Lottery, Nebraska Lottery, New Hampshire Lottery Commission, New Mexico Lottery, North Carolina Education Lottery, North Dakota Lottery, Oklahoma Lottery, Oregon Lottery, Pennsylvania Lottery, Rhode Island Lottery, South Carolina Education Lottery, South Dakota Lottery, Tennessee Education Lottery, Virgin Islands Lottery, Vermont Lottery, Wisconsin Lottery, and West Virginia Lottery.  

 

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ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY

The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Scratch™ tickets, and PullTabs with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividend for Idaho public schools and buildings. Since it’s inception in 1989, the Idaho Lottery has sold more than $1.7 billion in sales, awarded over $1 billion in prizes to players, returned more than $100 million in retail commissions, and distributed more than $402 million in Lottery dividends to state public schools and buildings. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.