USA Powerball changes ‘come into force this week’ – January 16th 2012

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This weekend, one of the world’s most popular lottery games – the USA Powerball – has transformed into a draw that will mean bigger prizes and better odds, but many may still be in the dark about these recent changes.

Yesterday (January 15th), the new system was set in action, which means players from now on will be in for a different experience than before – although the famous USA Powerball format will not be left unrecognisable as a result.

Bigger prizes

Now, all jackpots will start at $40 million rather than $20 million.

Furthermore, every draw that results in a rollover that will see the top prize increased by $10 million.

The second-tier prize is also getting a makeover, with this payout being given a boost from the $200,000 it was originally, to a very generous $1 million if a player gets all five main numbers correct.

This will mean the Match 5 prize with a Power Play will be inflated to $2 million, potentially resulting in scores of millionaires with every draw.

Lower level payouts are also being increased, with those who match just the Powerball taking home $4 now, compared to the $3 they would have won last week.

Better odds

The regular USA Powerball matrix for main numbers with a guess range of 1-59 will remain the same, so fans will still pick from the number selection when buying their lottery tickets.

Odds are also being improved, because with these changes comes a new Powerball matrix, taking the number of digits to choose from for the additional number selection from 1-39 down to 1-35.

New price

To reflect this transformation, the price of USA Powerball tickets has been increased by $1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the famous game, which held its first draw on April 22nd 1992 replacing the original Lotto America lottery.

Play lotto online

Worldwide USA Powerball fans might be itching to experience this new USA Powerball format and play lotto online in time for the very first new-style draw at theLotter.

The first opportunity people will have to play with these better odds and bigger jackpots is on Wednesday (January 18th), when they can enter to be in with a chance of winning the enormous $80 million jackpot.