Powerball

Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at $40 million and can roll into the hundreds of millions over many drawings.

Powerball holds the record for the largest prize awarded for one set of numbers drawn in a US lottery game; on February 18, 2006, one ticket won the $365 million jackpot. The eight people sharing the ticket chose the cash option, splitting $177,270,519.67 before withholdings.

Powerball's predecessor began in 1988, it was known as Lotto*America. The game, and name, were changed to Powerball on April 19, 1992. Powerball's first drawing was held three days later.

Powerball is an American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game and drawings are held Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time.

The game currently uses a 5/59 (white balls) + 1/35 (Powerballs) matrix to select its winning numbers. Each selection of six numbers costs players $1 for the base game; for an extra $1, they can multiply a non-jackpot prize by up to 5 (10 during promotional periods) with the Power Play multiplier.

* Payout and Odds

             Matches                               Prize                  Odds of winning

5 numbers, plus Powerball               Jackpot              1 in 175,249,054

 5 numbers, no Powerball               $1,000,000            1 in 5,138,133

4 numbers, plus Powerball               $10,000               1 in 723,144.64       

4 numbers, no Powerball                    $100                   1 in 19,030.12 

3 numbers, plus Powerball                  $100                   1 in 13,644.24    

3 numbers, no Powerball                       $7                       1 in 359.06

2 numbers, plus Powerball                     $7                       1 in 787.17

1 number, plus Powerball                       $4                       1 in 123.48

        Powerball only                                $4                        1 in 61.74