Powerball
Powerball is the bigger of the two US multi-state jackpot games. The current 5-of-69 + 1-of-26 matrix took effect October 4, 2015 — a tuning move that traded shorter low-tier odds for longer headline odds, which is why jackpots routinely roll past a billion now.
How it works: Powerball
Pick five main numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26. A Quick Pick option auto-selects. Tickets are two dollars. Power Play, a $1 add-on, multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x.
The real odds of Powerball
These figures come straight from the game's official number matrix, so they're fixed by math — not by which numbers you pick. A quick pick has exactly the same chance as any other combination, and no generator can change that.
- Match all 5 main numbers
- 1 in 11,238,513
- Match all 5 numbers plus the bonus
- 1 in 292,201,338
Putting those odds in perspective
- Total possible combinations
- 292,201,338
- Cost to buy every combination
- $584,402,676
- Tickets for a 50% chance of the jackpot
- 202,538,536
- Tickets for a 1% chance of the jackpot
- 2,936,722
Playing one line per draw, you'd expect to hit the jackpot about once every 292,201,338 draws — roughly once every 1,873,086 years.
How Powerball compares
Among the 14 games we generate, Powerball ranks #2 by jackpot difficulty (1 = hardest to win).
| # | Game | Jackpot odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keno | 1,646,492,110,120 |
| 2 | Powerball (this game) | 292,201,338 |
| 3 | Mega Millions | 290,472,336 |
| 4 | Bank a Million | 130,504,920 |
| 5 | Super Lotto Plus | 41,416,353 |
| 6 | Lotto America | 25,989,600 |
| 7 | Lotto Texas | 25,827,165 |
| 8 | Bonus Match 5 | 19,575,738 |
| 9 | Wild Money | 16,564,086 |
| 10 | Match 6 | 13,983,816 |
| 11 | Classic Lotto 47 | 10,737,573 |
| 12 | Tri-State Megabucks Plus | 4,496,388 |
| 13 | All or Nothing | 2,704,156 |
| 14 | Texas Two Step | 1,832,600 |
Prize tiers
| Match | Approx. odds | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + Powerball | 1 in 292,201,338 | Jackpot |
| 5 | 1 in 11,688,053 | $1 million |
| 4 + Powerball | 1 in 913,129 | $50,000 |
| 4 | 1 in 36,525 | $100 |
| 3 + Powerball | 1 in 14,494 | $100 |
| 0 + Powerball | 1 in 38 | $4 |
A brief history
Powerball traces back to Lotto America, which ran from 1988 to 1992 before being rebranded with its Powerball mechanic. The first Powerball draw was held on April 22, 1992. Powerball holds the record for the largest US lottery jackpot ever paid: $2.04 billion, won in Altadena, California on November 7, 2022.