Lotteries in Australia – Powerball
Lotteries in Australia – Powerball
Powerball, another one of Australia’s most recognised lottery games, offers some of the best winning odds compared to other national lotteries. First introduced on May 23, 1996 by Tattersall’s, the game is across all states through Australian Lotto Bloc, and is fashioned on the American game of the same name. The minimum guaranteed Division 1 prize pool is $3 million, with a jackpot which can reach in excess of $50 million. For those looking for some inspiration, Powerball’s largest jackpot prize to date is $80 million, which was split between two lucky winners on July 30, 2009.
How to Play
Powerball is drawn every Thursday night and broadcast at 8:45pm on Channel 7. Each standard ticket starts at a cost of $3.70 with a minimum play of four standard games required. The draw closes at 7:30pm on the same night. Players are able to purchase tickets online or at their local newsagencies.
In a standard game of Powerball, two sets of two numbers are drawn from two machines. The first contains 40 balls numbered from 1 to 40, while the second contains 20 balls numbered from 1 to 20. You choose six lucky numbers from the first barrel and a Powerball number from the second barrel, for a total of seven drawn numbers.
Check out our recommended Online Keno for Australians
To win a Division 1 jackpot prize in a standard Powerball game, you need all six winning numbers from the first barrel and the Powerball number from the second barrel. To win any prize, you need to match a minimum of three winning numbers; this consists of two of the six winning numbers in the first barrel and the Powerball number.
The following section details the amount of numbers required to win each division and the probability of doing so in a single game:
| Division | Odds | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Six Numbers + Powerball | 1 in 76,767,600 |
| 2 | Six Numbers | 1 in 4,040,400 |
| 3 | Five Numbers + Powerball | 1 in 376,312 |
| 4 | Five Numbers | 1 in 19,806 |
| 5 | Four Numbers + Powerball | 1 in 9,123 |
| 6 | Three Numbers + Powerball | 1 in 641 |
| 7 | Four Numbers | 1 in 480 |
| 8 | Two Numbers + Powerball | 1 in 110 |
Powerball Ticketing Options
We can choose from a variety of ticket options to play with, and numbers used repeatedly can be saved to an online Tatts account or Tatts membership card. In the majority of Powerball games, two tickets must be purchased at a time for a minimum of two games.
- PowerHit Entries are unique to Powerball. These tickets guarantee you the winning Powerball number to greatly improve your chances of hitting the jackpot. If purchased, all you need to win 1st Division is the six winning numbers. One PowerHit entry is equivalent to 40 standard Powerball games, and can be played with either a Marked Coupon, QuickPick or System Entry.
- Powerball Marked Coupons work the same way as other lottery games, with the addition of the Powerball supplementary number. You simply mark your favourite six numbers in each game panel and one number in the Powerball panel and you’re set. It’s important to note the second game panel is circled to indicate the Powerball panel. Powerball tickets cover a minimum of four standard games to a maximum of 18.
- Powerball QuickPicks have numbers randomly generated by Tattersall’s and like in other lottery games, are ideal for those who aren’t looking for a fixed set of numbers.
- Powerball System Entries are tickets designed to maximise our chances of winning. We mark down a certain amount of numbers (more than the standard six) depending on how many System Entries are bought, and a Powerball number. We can mark down anywhere from eight to 20 additional numbers in each game panel.
For more on Australian Lotteries check out OnlineLotto.com.au
- Powerball Group Play/Sydnictae Entries cover more numbers than other options as we share the cost of tickets between members of a group, and can also share additional System Entries with other players. If we win any prize, the team equally divides the winnings.
- Powerball Pick Entries can be played with Marked Coupon or QuickPicks, and they guarantee us one or two out of the six winning numbers required to win Division 1. We then select the remaining numbers. Pick 4 and Pick 5 offer one and two winning numbers, respectively.
- Powerball Super Combo Entries are similar to System Entries and allow us to mark more number combinations than we would in a standard game entry. The key difference here is a Super Combo will not cover all possible number combinations of a selected set of numbers.
For more information about playing lotteries online, check out our Oz Lotteries guide.
