Is The Money Shared In Powerball?

Here’s some quick background for you about Powerball®, and why we call it Iowa’s Powerball here in our state, but in other places it’s Minnesota’s Powerball, Nebraska’s Powerball, Louisiana’s Powerball, etc.

It all has to do with how sales are accounted for in the game and where the money goes that is raised by the sale of Powerball tickets.

All of the lotteries in Powerball (30 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are part of one big game, and all of the tickets sold are for centralized drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays. But each member lottery is responsible for the sales within its jurisdiction.

The lotteries pool their money for Powerball’s jackpot. That top prize gets 58 percent of the money in the prize pool and accounts for 29 percent of sales in the game. The remainder of the money from the sale of Powerball tickets stays in each individual state. 

That’s why we call it Iowa’s Powerball here, because most of the money from Powerball tickets sold in Iowa stays in Iowa. It’s the same for all of the other lotteries in the game, too. 

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, DJ! It’s been a little while since the Match 5 Bonus system has been used in Powerball, so your question gives us a great chance to review the info. for everyone! The current record Powerball jackpot is $365 million. It was won in February 2006 by a group of co-workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant. The jackpot has to reach an amount higher than $365 million for the Match 5 Bonus system to kick in. In the hypothetical you posed, the jackpot would continue to grow by its normal amount from $350 million until it reached an amount higher than $365 million and then the Bonus system would start. Once that happens, the jackpot only grows by $25 million between drawings until it is won, and the rest of the money that normally would go to the jackpot goes instead into a separate “bonus pool.” The money in the bonus pool is divided among players who win Powerball’s second prize by matching the first five numbers but not the Powerball. That prize normally is $200,000, and any share of the Bonus Pool money is added to that. And, if you’re a Powerball aficionado, you know that if you add the Power Play to your ticket and you match the first five numbers, you win $1 million. So in those cases, any share of the Bonus Pool money would be added to the $1 million. The idea behind the Bonus Pool system is to share the big winnings and give more people a chance to take home a significant prize. From the numbers involved, you can see that will happen!

[djdaveyjones]

I know what I am about to ask isn't pertinent to the subject matter of this article, but, I don't see anywhere else to post a question/request, so here goes. What exactly are the rules governing a record jackpot amount? After the previous record is reached the jackpot only increases by 15 or is it 25 million? I know about the remainder being split parimutuely(sp?) among the second tier winners. And another thing, if the previous drawings jackpot is hypothetically $350 million and the previous record is $365 million, does that mean after a rollover the set prize amount will only grow by the 15 or 25 million i.e. to $380 or $390 million? Or does it grow at the regular rate since technically the jackpot record level hasn't been breached until that drawings jackpot is validated? I would just look it up in the official rules, BUT it's not in there. Just curious as always DJ.