How to Play US Powerball
Despite the fact that the US Powerball offers some of the largest jackpots in the world, the rules of the game are simple and anyone can learn to play. Essentially, this is a combination between a cash game and a jackpot game, with draws taking place twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A total of 69 white balls is extracted from a plastic bubble, and an additional red ball is drawn from a drum containing 26 of them. Players need to purchase the tickets in advance and the sales end one hour before the draw.
There are no restrictions and anyone above 18 years old can play, with the price of a ticket being recently adjusted to two dollars. One year ago, the US Powerball ticket price was doubled, but after this measure the size of subsequent jackpots has increased dramatically. Players can choose to pay the additional dollar to activate the power play option, which means that in the event they win a prize it will be increased between two and four times. The size of the jackpot is not affected by the aforementioned option, but it depends on how many tickets have been sold and whether there was a rolled over prize or not.
Players can select the numbers they want on the lottery ticket themselves or let the quick pick feature present them with a US Powerball ticket. The odds are the same and those who don’t have any favorite numbers, would see the benefits of streamlining the process by allowing the software to choose the numbers on their behalf. The lucky winners get to choose whether they want to receive the entire amount right away at the expense of losing a portion, or be awarded 30 payments over 29 years.
