The Powerball jackpot has soared to an estimated $1.04 billion after no tickets matched all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing.
Saturday night’s drawing produced white balls 19, 30, 37, 44 and 46 and red Powerball 22.
The $1.04 billion prize – an estimated $478.2 million in cash value – is the second-largest jackpot this year, topped only by a $1.08 billion prize won on July 19 by a ticketholder in California.
They changed this some years ago. Odds used to be better, they made them worse on purpose to get bigger jackpots.
Which makes it less worthwhile to play, IMHO. Odds were horrible before the change and now they're WORSE? No thanks.
ETA: I have not done it in a while, but I might buy a ticket for fun. It is worth a few dollars just to dream a little.
This is what they are banking on.
I bought a Powerball ticket the first time it hit a billion. I found out why later that day. I knew it was a waste to begin with, but it kinda pissed me off. 2006ish(?), turns out making the odds even worse drives up jackpot.
So is it optimal strategy to never play on a new (non rolled over) session? Seems like a bit of a prisoners' dilemma if everyone realises that
Billion dollar question, my friend.