Explaining How the Powerball Lottery Works

Tonight’s Powerball draw has an amazing jackpot of $835 million. Just how does this top American lottery work?

Anyone can buy a Powerball ticket and of course you can purchase them from Lottery24. There are 69 main numbers in the draw and five have to be chosen. Then there’s the Powerball to choose from its 1-26 range.

Amazing jackpots

The Powerball draw is renowned for its massive jackpots. It’s even been known to go above the $2 billion mark. Why is this the case? Well, unlike in some other lottery draws, there is no jackpot cap in Powerball.

How is the jackpot won? You need to correctly match the five main numbers drawn and the Powerball. The odds of doing so are 1 in 292.2 million. Of course that’s high but the jackpot does get won and it might just be you who’s the next big winner.

There are plenty of other prizes that can be won in a Powerball draw. Matching the five main numbers wins you the second-tier prize of $1 million.  Four main numbers win you a handsome $50,000. Even just selecting the Powerball wins you $4.

Three draws a week

You can either just buy a ticket for one draw or for several at a time. The Powerball draw is held three times a week. One on Monday and then two more on Wednesday and Saturday. All the results are listed on Lottery24. This allows you not just to see how you’ve got on but discover which numbers are being regularly drawn and those that aren’t.

Big decision

If you are lucky enough to win the jackpot, there are two ways in which it can be received. Each draw has a cash option (it’s $390.4 million tonight) and that’s a one-off payment.

Alternatively you can receive your fantastic prize as an annuity via 30 annual payments. The choice is entirely down to the winning player. You have 90 days to claim your prize. Perhaps you’ll be doing that soon, let’s hope so.

Buy your Powerball tickets from Lottery24