What are the new powerball changes?

On January 7, 2009 the powerball lottery drawing changed! The main pool (white balls) changed from 5 out of 55 numbers to 5 out of 59 numbers.

The additional "power ball" number pool (red balls) have changed from "1 out of 42" to "1 out of 39". The old "jackpot" odds were stated as 1:146,107,962 and the new odds are stated as 1:195,249,054. The new format offers significantly tougher odds... though the old odds weren't all that mathematically favorable to begin with.

According to the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) these changes will help create bigger jackpots while making more "winners" per year. This means that the odds of winning the main powerball jackpot will be tougher but smaller payout odds will better. The only odds that have actually gotten better are the "1 out of 5 plus power ball" ($4) and the "powerball" by itself ($3).

The starting pool will also be increasing from $15 million to $20 million.

This is our interpretation of the changes. Be sure to confirm this information at the multi-state lottery association home page and decide for yourself.

Power Play changes:

The "power play" option is an additional $1 play per drawing that increases the payout should you pick contain a winning combination. The main "jackpot" payout for 5 out of 5 (white balls) and matching powerball (red ball) does *not* increase with the power play option.

The primary difference that we can determine with the power play option is that the powerball payout for matching the 5 out of 5 (white balls without matching the red powerball), for those winners who have also purchased the "power play" option, will always pay 5 times the standard $200,000 payout regardless of what "power play" number was picked (unless certain conditions apply where the number of winning tickets are much larger than usual... see the multi-state lottery web site for specific details).