Do you know the Powerball? Here we share some of its features

In the world there are many people who are used to playing the lottery, both traditionally and online, an option that thanks to technology and automated systems, is available to players.

One of the lotteries that offers the possibility to access it both in person and through web pages, is the Powerball, which distributes the largest jackpots on the planet. This game, which was born in the United States, is really simple and does not require any kind of strategy, since chance will determine 100% of the winners.

Drawings are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 22:59 p.m. (North American Eastern Time). They take place in the state of Florida. Since October 2015, the game has used the format of choosing 5 numbers out of 69, plus one out of 26. The probability of winning the jackpot is about 1 in two million. It holds the world record for the largest lottery jackpot ever awarded, of 1580 million dollars. It was distributed among 3 winning tickets, sold in California, Tennessee and Florida.

To win the jackpot, a lottery ticket must match 5 main numbers, from 1 to 69, plus the additional Powerball number from 1 to 26. In addition to the main prize, PowerBall offers different prize levels according to the numbers matched, offering a total of 9 categories of prizes that can be won. In all cases, you can find out potential winnings with the help of a powerball payout calculator.  

And if more than one person matches the numbers in the drawing, the prize will be divided equally among all winners. If for example no one matches the draw numbers, the jackpot will be accumulated until there is a winner. Rollovers are very common and that is why PowerBall jackpots are the largest in the world.

And this lottery has the famous PowerPlay, the prize multiplier from the second category. What does it consist of? This additional feature was introduced in PowerBall in 2011; it serves the function of a multiplier that is randomly drawn on the same day of the draw. It can multiply prizes from the third category x2, x3, x4, x5 and x10 and even double the second category prize, which can go from $1 million to $2 million with the PowerPlay option.

Since its introduction in 2011, PowerPlay has proven to be very popular among players, which caused it to be modified in 2015, when the x10 multiplier was added, as it could initially only multiply prizes up to x5. In the case of the x10 multiplier, it is only introduced to the draw when the jackpot is worth less than $150 million.

It is also possible to purchase tickets outside the United States through the Internet, in specialized lottery game websites. Some of them allow to enjoy the Powerball in different modalities: Standard (you buy the tickets and choose the numbers you like the most); Syndicate (join a syndicate with other players and multiply your forces) and the Package (combines the two options (standard and syndicate) in a cheaper pack.

Many of the players prefer syndicates, because they allow them to buy shares in several tickets by joining others. With these bets, which are cheaper than the option of purchasing individual tickets, the chances of winning Powerball prizes are increased. If the group wins, the profits are shared among all members. The winners receive the amount of money proportional to the number of participants. In other words, participating in more tickets translates into a bigger prize.

These are some of the features of Powerball, the American lottery famous for delivering the largest prizes of this type of draws in the world.