The Odds of Winning US Powerball
The Powerball is one of the most important American lotteries and rivals the Mega Millions in terms of jackpots size. All this comes at the expense of worse odds of winning a significant amount, with the chances to scoop the jackpot being just one in 175 million. Given the fact that those who beat these odds end up winning tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, it comes as no surprise that players don’t mind investing two dollars despite crushing odds. The chances to win lower tier prizes improve as we climb down the ladder, with the odds of winning any prize being better than 1 in 32.
In order to win the jackpot, one would need to match all the five numbers plus the Powerball, but if the special ball is not hit, the prize will still range from $1-$2 million. The discrepancy comes from the additional million received by players who pay the additional dollar for the Power Play option, but the odds are still one in 5,153,632.65. Those who defeats odds of 1 in 648,975.96 and match only 4 numbers and the Powerball will receive between 10 and $40,000. Only $200 are awarded to those who match four numbers or 3+ the PB but the odds are 1 in 19,087 and 1 in 12,244, therefore more reasonable ones.
Smaller amounts are won by players who only indicate one, two and three numbers with or without the Powerball and the chances to win such a prize are one in a few hundreds. The size of the jackpot depends on how many tickets are sold before the draw and whether the main prize has been rolled over the previous week or not. As for the smaller prizes, they are fixed amounts regardless of the prize pool.
