2011 Press Releases

October 19, 2011

POWERBALL® TO OFFER $40 MILLION STARTING JACKPOTS AND BETTER ODDS OF WINNING BEGINNING JANUARY 15, 2012
Changes to Advance-Play Begin December 17

Dover, DE --POWERBALL®, the iconic lottery game, is being enhanced to offer more value to its players. To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012, POWERBALL jackpots will start at $40 million and the game will feature better odds of winning, plus more chances to win a prize of at least $1 million cash.  The enriched game will make its debut on January 15, 2012.

To support game enhancements for players, the POWERBALL ticket price will also change from $1 to $2 each beginning January 15.  In addition, the Power Play® feature will be available for an extra $1 per play.

“Players frequently ask for higher jackpots and better odds to win cash prizes,” said Vernon Kirk, Acting Director for the Delaware Lottery. “POWERBALL’s redesigned features provide added benefits to its players and the Delaware Lottery looks forward to presenting its players with this new and exciting opportunity.”

In addition to increasing the starting jackpot, POWERBALL will increase the second match-five prize from $200,000 to $1 million cash, and the lowest prize for matching just the red POWERBALL will increase from $3 to $4.

Players in the newly designed game will still choose their first five numbers from a pool of 59. But the group of numbers in the POWERBALL pool will shrink from 39 to 35, producing better overall odds of winning a prize in the game. Players today have a 1-in- 35 overall chance of winning, which will improve to 1-in-31.8 in the revamped game. Odds of winning a jackpot prize will improve from 1-in-195 million to 1-in-175 million.

“We understand some people may prefer the $1 price point,” said Kirk. “MEGA MILLIONS®, HOT LOTTO®, DELAWARE CASH 5® and a variety of Instant Games will continue to offer exciting options for those players.”

To prepare for the game changes, the Delaware Lottery must limit POWERBALL’s advance-play feature beginning with the December 17 draw. POWERBALL and Power Play® tickets normally may be purchased for up to 10 future drawings through the advance play feature.  The last opportunity to purchase 10 draws of POWERBALL in its current form will be December 14. After that drawing, the number of advance draws available for purchase will continue to decrease by one until January 14, 2012 – the last POWERBALL drawing under the current game design.

POWERBALL tickets for the new and enhanced version of the game will go on sale beginning Sunday, January 15, 2012. At that time, players will again be able to purchase up to 10 draws of advance-play tickets.

About POWERBALL:
Since POWERBALL’s inception on April 19, 1992, the game has generated approximately $33 billion in sales for lotteries that the game supports. About 25 to 35 percent of that amount goes to good causes such as education, senior programs, local towns and the environment; 50 percent is paid in cash prizes and 6 percent goes back to the local communities in the form of retailer compensation. Participating POWERBALL jurisdictions are expected to generate even more money for those good causes with the new and improved POWERBALL game.

POWERBALL drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 9:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, 8:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and 7:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. POWERBALL tickets are sold in 44 participating jurisdictions. For more information about POWERBALL, please visit www.powerball.com.

About the Delaware Lottery:
Since the start of operations in 1975, the Delaware Lottery has contributed more than $3.3 billion to the state’s General Fund to help finance needed state services that benefit everyone in Delaware. The Lottery offers a variety of games: POWERBALL®, MEGA MILLIONS®, HOT LOTTO®, FAST PLAY®, MULTI-WIN LOTTO, PLAY 3, PLAY 4, DELAWARE CASH 5® and assorted Instant Games. Delaware Lottery game and promotional details are available at delottery.com, at licensed retailers, and from the Lottery's office in Dover.

Winner Privacy is our Policy.

The Delaware Lottery only publishes winner names with their consent.