Oklahoma Lottery News

On January 14, 2006 Oklahoma joined the Powerball Lottery operated by the Multi-State Lottery Association which now boasts a total of 31 member states. Powerball is a large jackpot lottery game with jackpots starting at $15 million and at times ranging into the hundreds of millions. Powerball is played every Wednesday and Saturday night.

To play Powerball players must choose five white numbered balls out of a total of 55 balls, numbered from 1 to 55 and one red numbered ball from a total of 42 balls, numbered from 1 to 42. It is not necessary to pick the white balls in the order drawn. Picking all five white balls and the red Powerball correctly wins the jackpot. The odds of any single Powerball play winning the jackpot are 1 in 146,107,962.

In addition to winning the jackpot, players may also win in other ways with prizes ranging from $3 for picking only the Powerball correctly to $200,000 for picking all five white balls correctly. Between these two extremes other prizes players may win are $4, $7, $100 and $10,000 for varying numbers of correct white balls with or without a correct Powerball picked. For a complete breakdown of possible prize winnings and odds of winning see Powerball Prizes and Odds on the Powerball web site.

Powerball picks cost $1 for each set of numbers picked (5 white balls plus the Powerball).

Powerball players when purchasing their tickets may purchase the ‘Power Play’ option which multiplies their winnings of any prize other than the jackpot. Just prior to each Powerball drawing, a Power Play drawing is conducted and a multiplier of 2, 3, 4 or 5 is drawn. Any prize other than the jackpot a player wins will be multiplied by the ‘Power Play’ multiplier drawn if the player has chosen the Power Play option. Selecting the Power Play option when purchasing Powerball numbers adds $1 to the cost of each Powerball pick purchased.

For example, if a player picked all five white balls correctly they would win $200,000. If that same player had taken the ‘Power Play’ option their $200,000 winnings would be multiplied by the Power Play multiplier drawn that night. In this scenario a player getting all five white balls correct would win no less than $400,000 and up to $1 million dollars if the Power Play number drawn that night was 5.

Powerball players may either select their own numbers using the play slip method, manually marking the play slip with their desired choice or simply chose to have the lottery computer terminal generate the numbers for them. Historically seventy percent of Powerball players opt for the computer generated picks and seventy percent of jackpot winners have won with computer generated picks. This indicates there is no advantage to either picking one’s own numbers or having the computer pick the numbers for you. The odds of winning are the same either way.

For more information on Powerball see the Powerball and the Oklahoma Lottery web sites. Links to both appear on all pages on this site.