Monday Drawings In Powerball® Start Next Week

We gave you the preview back in May, and now the time is almost here: Powerball’s first Monday drawing will happen next week.

Powerball is moving from two drawings per week up to three. The game will still have drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays like it always has, and now Mondays will be part of the mix, too.  

The changes in the game are designed to produce more winners and generate larger, faster-growing jackpots. But remember that while the additional drawings will create more chances to win, they won’t change Powerball’s prize levels, odds of winning, or ticket price.

Players in $2 Powerball will still choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play® option is available for an extra $1 per play.

With the Monday drawings almost here, the countdown on advance plays in Powerball also will end soon. Normally, you can buy Powerball tickets for up to 10 consecutive drawings in advance in Iowa. But when a major change is made in one of our games, a standard part of the process is that advance plays are limited until the change takes effect. The procedure is designed to ensure that you have valid tickets for all upcoming drawings, both before and after the change.

Advance plays in Powerball are limited through tomorrow night. Once sales end for tomorrow’s night’s Powerball drawing, things will reset and you’ll be able to buy tickets for up to 10 drawings in advance again here in Iowa.

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Patricia. We do understand the point you've raised and we are discussing the possibility of adding more advance plays here in Iowa. We have a larger computer system project currently underway that means we can't make that change at this time, but know that it is something we are considering.

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Chris. Double Play is a new feature added to Powerball by some lotteries that sell the game. There are 48 lotteries that offer Powerball as a product and 13 of them added the Double Play option starting with last night's drawing. We are not offering that feature here in Iowa, as the timing of its go-live date did not work in our project timeline. If you are in a state where you can buy the Double Play option for an extra $1 per play, here is how it works: A separate Double Play drawing is held after the Powerball drawing each night. The numbers from your Powerball ticket are also good for the Double Play drawing. Hence the name, because you play the same set of numbers twice. The top prize in the Double Play drawing is $10 million and there are smaller prizes available as well. If we add the Double Play option at some point in the future here in Iowa, we will notify our players about that.

[Patricia Hawke]

The 3 games per week now poses a problem for those of us without transportation. I always purchase 10 days/plays in advance, which always covered the month for powerball. But now, I would have to pay a second $20 round trip in the month just to cover all the month's powerball plays, since you're still only allowing 10 advance plays. If you're going to increase the number of plays per month, then you have to increase the number of advance plays to cover it.

[Chris McConnell]

What is the double play drawing, for Powerball? I check with Indiana and Florida to see what the drawing numbers are, as they show them faster than this site does. This time both have double play drawing, below the drawing numbers, with a completely different set of numbers.

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, William. Of the games you mentioned, only Lucky for Life has a second-tier prize that can be claimed as an annuity. The second-tier prizes in Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto America are all cash prizes -- there are no annuity option for those. And yes, an annuity needs to be purchased, and there is a cost for that. It could involve a commission on the sale, maintenance fees, or other fees to cover the cost of the investments made. If you search online for an annuity definition, you can learn more about them.