About The USA Powerball
US Powerball is an American lottery game that is offered in 44 states including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The USA Powerball is run and monitored by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) which is a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with other US lotteries.
Powerball’s minimum jackpot is $40 million. Winners can either accept their winnings in the form of a cash option or an annuity option. The annuity is paid out in 30 graduated installments.
USA Powerball draws are held every Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 10:50 pm Eastern Time. On the 13th of January, 2016, the biggest jackpot in the world was won. It was $1.6 billion! The massive jackpot was split by three tickets sold in California, Tennessee, and Melbourne Beach, Florida.
The following states do not over the US Powerball game: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and Utah. In the year 2013, the state of Utah opened up its arms to the game and became the 44th state to establish a lottery. It now also offers the Mega Millions game.
Initially, in 1988 the precursor to US Powerball was known as “Lotto America”. The name was changed to Powerball on the 19th of April, 1992. This was also the same day the first draw was held after this name change and rebranding.
When Powerball was first launched, it was the first lottery game of its kind to sue two separate drums for the draw. Using this method of two drums allows for higher jackpot amounts to be reached, and for there to be numerous prize tiers. These prize tiers offer players great consolation prizes if they don’t hit the jackpot. So it still pays to play, in a sense.
This 2-drum concept was initiated by a man named Steve Caputo from the Oregon Lottery. From Powerball, the Mega Millions lottery and many other lotteries around the world have now adopted this 2-drum draw style.
The annuity duration for jackpot winners has changed from 20 years to 25 yearly payments. The annuity is 30 graduated payments, with each payment increasing by 5% annually to accost for increased living expenses and changing lifestyle habits.
In 1998, Florida’s government then allowed the state to participate in the US Powerball draws. A new feature to the game was added in 2001. That was called the “Power Play” option. It allowed players to multiply non-jackpot winnings for up to 5 times by paying in a little extra ($1) towards each game.
In 2015, The Powerball format was updated. The number of balls in the white ball pool increased from 59 to 69. The number of balls in the Powerball pool decreased from 35 to 26. These new changes have given players a higher chance of winning a large consolation prize seeing that matching the jackpot numbers is so difficult. It gives more lottery players hope around the world.
Ever since the game changes, the Powerball jackpot has climbed to staggering heights!
