Powerball Gets Better and Florida Joins: New Game Odds and Fun Facts About Lottery History

Winning the lottery is the only chance for many people to ever become a millionaire. The popular Powerball multi-state lottery game will change in 2009 and make your chances of winning any Powerball prize even better. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) is owned and operated by member lotteries and runs multi-state games like the Powerball game. The first Powerball drawing was held on April 22, 1992 and has since become the number one lottery game in the United States. Powerball is played in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 2009, the state of Florida is joining the MUSL and will offer the popular Powerball lottery game. The MUSL is changing the Powerball game to make it easier for more people to win prizes and make the Powerball jackpots even bigger. But, before you make your list of how to spend your millions of Powerball dollars, be aware that not all Powerball winners have had positive life changing experiences. One tragic story about a Powerball winner is Jack Whittaker who won the $315 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas morning in 2002. You can read the tragic story of Jack Whittaker at this page: ABC's 20/20 to Air Tragic Story of Powerball Winner.

New Odds and Prizes in the Powerball Lottery Game

The Powerball changes expected in January 2009, will create better overall odds for more people to win any of the Powerball prizes. The odds will drop to one in 35.1 of winning some Powerball game. This drop in the overall odds of winning any Powerball prize means that an estimated 3 million extra prizes can be won each year.

The Powerball jackpot odds will increase to one in 195.2 million, but with the addition of Florida, the average size of a Powerball jackpot is expected to increase to exciting levels. It is expected that the average Powerball jackpot will increase from $95.5 million to $141 million. In addition, the starting Powerball jackpot will increase from $15 million to $20 million. The Powerball jackpot pool percentage will increase by about 2% to help make the jackpot grow faster and larger. These new odds in the Powerball lottery are a result of adding 4 new white balls and removing 3 red balls.

The Powerball lottery ticket will still cost $1 with the option to Power Play with random prize multipliers for a cost of $2. The Powerball lottery game will also still include the Match 5 BONUS. More than half of the Powerball lottery players have used the $2 Power Play prize option.

Myths About Lottery Ticket Buyers

Many people think that the lottery is played by very poor people who cannot afford to be gambling. In fact, a 1999 Gallup Poll study was done called Gambling in America and found that 57% of American adults reported buying a lottery ticket in the past 12 months. People with incomes of $45,000 to $75,000 were the most likely to play. 53% of those people with incomes less than $25,000 a year were least likely to play lottery.

Fun Facts About Lottery History

In 2005, U.S. lottery ticket sales totaled $53.2 billion. New York led the sales with $6.2 billion, followed by Massachusetts at $4.5 billion. The largest lottery sales worldwide is Japan's Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Lottery, with sales of $7.9 billion.

It is not really known who started the first lottery but the Bible makes reference to Moses using a lottery to award land to people that was west of the River Jordan (Book of Numbers, Chapter 26).

Other forms of lottery date back to 100-144 B.C. in the days of Caesar and The Hun Dynasty in China that created the Keno game.

It is believed that the word lottery comes from the Italian word lotto meaning destiny or fate.

In 1964, New Hampshire became the first state to offer a lottery tied to horse racing and called a sweepstakes to avoid breaking the antilottery laws. Since then, states have raised over $200 billion in lottery revenues for government programs.

In 1974, Massachusetts became the first state to offer scratch-off lottery tickets.

In 2006, a $365 million Powerball winner, the largest in history, is awarded to eight co-workers at a Lincoln, Nebraska food processing plant.

Where is Powerball Lottery Played

Arizona Lottery, Colorado Lottery, Connecticut Lottery Corporation, D.C. Lottery (District of Columbia), Delaware Lottery, Idaho Lottery, Hoosier Lottery (Indiana), Iowa Lottery, Kansas Lottery, Kentucky Lottery Corporation, Louisiana Lottery Corporation, Maine Lottery, Minnesota State Lottery, Missouri Lottery, Montana Lottery, Nebraska Lottery, New Hampshire Lottery Commission, New Mexico Lottery, North Carolina Education Lottery, North Dakota Lottery, Oklahoma Lottery, Oregon Lottery, Pennsylvania Lottery, Rhode Island Lottery, South Carolina Education Lottery, South Dakota Lottery, Tennessee Education Lottery, Virgin Islands Lottery, Vermont Lottery, Wisconsin Lottery, and West Virginia Lottery. The Florida Lottery will probably start selling the Powerball lottery game in 2009.

Sources:

MarketWatch
Powerball is Improving

MUSL Web Site

NASPL Web Site

Gallup Poll
Gambling in America