Are you perplexed that nobody has claimed the enormous US$1.5 billion Powerball prize?
The fact that fewer tickets are being purchased for each draw than they were five or six years ago is a major contributing factor.
The odds of a winner decreases as fewer tickets are purchased and a smaller portion of the millions of possible number combinations are covered. It will take place on Sunday, New Zealand time.
The jackpot is the equivalent of an astounding NZ$2. 59 billion.
The other lottery game available in the majority of the United States is Mega Millions, which continues to be played by many Americans. Since there wasn’t a large winner on Wednesday night local time, the jackpot increased by US$300 million thanks to ticket sales from those Powerball players.
In the last draw for a US$1. 2 billion jackpot, 46. 6% of the 292. 2 million possible number combinations were covered. That was up from the 36.
3% of all possible number combinations were chosen for the draw on Monday night, demonstrating how ticket sales increase as jackpots increase.
However, the proportion is still significantly lower than it was on January 13, 2016, when a record US$1.5 billion Powerball prize was at stake. Back then, ticket sales were so strong that 88. 6% of the possible combinations were covered, according to the Urbandale, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association.
A few days prior to that historic 2016 drawing, a Powerball jackpot of US$900 million had a coverage rate of 77.8%.
The association notes, however, that Powerball drawings now are held three times a week, so even if tickets sold for individual drawings are less, overall sales can be roughly comparable because of the extra game each week.
According to Drew Svitko, executive director of the Pennsylvania Lottery and head of the Powerball Product Group, “it’s really difficult to make a comparison between now and five years ago because this is not really an apples-to-apples comparison.”
Even though nobody was able to match all five white numbers with the red Powerball to win the jackpot, several others came agonisingly close.
Powerball officials note that 19 tickets matched the five white balls and missed the Powerball — earning the players US$1 million, or US$2 million if they paid extra for a “prize multiplier. ” In addition, 238 tickets also matched the Powerball and four white balls.
Since August 6, there have been 39 consecutive Powerball draws without a winner. If that run continues beyond Saturday night local time for 40 drawings, the jackpot will undoubtedly become the biggest one ever in the US and the entire world.
The longest streak of Powerball drawings without a winner, 41, came to an end on October 4, 2021, when a Californian won US$699.8 million.
Until someone wins this time, the biggest prize remains a US$1.
3 Tennessee, Florida, and California lottery ticket purchasers split the $586 billion Powerball prize in 2016. This comes in just ahead of the US$1.537 billion Mega Millions prize won by a South Carolina ticket holder in 2018.
The winners of the $1. 5 billion prize on Saturday night will get an annuity, which will be paid out over a 29-year period. Most winner choose cash, and for the next drawing that would be US$745. 9 million.
In 45 US states, as well as in Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, Powerball is played.
Why no one has ever won the US$1.5 billion Powerball in America
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