After the April 8 drawings, the national Powerball game will base the amount of the jackpot and the amount the jackpot increases between draws on ticket sales and interest rates. That means the game will not have a guaranteed starting jackpot of $20 million or a guaranteed increase between drawings of $2 million.
Why the change?
To put it simply, ticket sales aren’t strong enough to support the guaranteed starting jackpot and guaranteed increases and the decline in interest rates means there is less growth in investments to support the annuity prize.
Powerball ticket sales from over 45 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are what cause the Powerball jackpot to increase. When more folks buy Powerball tickets, the jackpot gets bigger. When fewer folks buy Powerball tickets, the jackpot can’t rise as quickly. That’s where we are right now. There has been an overall decline in Powerball ticket sales across the country, so the jackpot can’t rise as quickly. The money to pay the prizes comes from the ticket sales.
Who made the change?
Game changes are not made by individual lotteries. Instead, game changes are made by the national organization that operates the Powerball game and all lotteries offering the game must accept the changes.
What does this mean for players?
We know there have been a few changes with Powerball recently. We want you to know that no matter what, anybody who wins a prize playing Powerball will get paid their full prize.
So, if you win $4 or $100,000 or the jackpot, you will get paid.
How will this impact the current Powerball jackpot?
The advertised Powerball jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is a guaranteed $180 million. If the jackpot rolls, it will grow to a guaranteed $190 million for the April 8 drawing. If the jackpot is won on Saturday night, it will reset to a guaranteed $20 million for the April 8 drawing and continue to grow based off sales and interest rates.
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its the smaller payouts that keeps me from playing like i use too. you basely have get least 4+pb to win any money not worth it.seeing i've played every day since it started and have not won no more than $500 dollars. and i've spend way more.
So the Powerball was at $136 million and no one won on the 3rd but now the jackpot is only at 22 million. Where did the money go? I definitely won't be playing if money is disappearing. It did the same thing for the mega millions.
Thanks for the update. Stay safe.