Two weeks remain until first Powerball drawing
In less than two weeks, Pennsylvania residents accustomed to traveling across state lines to play Powerball can play the multi-state game known for its quickly growing jackpot at local lottery retailers. Tickets for Powerball go on sale at over 6,000 machines statewide at 5 a.m. June 27 with the first drawing to include Pennsylvania sales scheduled for 11 p.m. on June 29. After that first drawing, drawings will be held every Wednesday and Saturday.
Pennsylvania Lottery officials hope that the new game will draw excitement back to the lottery for current players and entice those who had never played before to give it a try.
“Had we not gone with Powerball or another multi-state game, we would have been completely surrounded by states with them,” said Sally Danyluk, director of public relations for the Pennsylvania Lottery. “Powerball has great name recognition and a big jackpot, which is what people want.”
While the state game with the highest payout, Super 6 Lotto, starts at $3 million, Danyluk said Powerball starts at $10 million and grows at higher increments. Super 6 could roll as much as $1 million from one drawing to the next, while Powerball can roll over by $4 million or more in a three-day period based on sales.
All retailers who sell tickets for the Lottery’s games, such as Daily Number, Big 4, Cash 5 and Super 6 Lotto, received machines to sell Powerball tickets and approximately 80 percent of the retailers have been trained, she said.
“We have a lot of people asking for a second machine and have added a few new locations since it was learned we would be selling Powerball,” Danyluk said.
Danyluk said that an aggressive marketing campaign is under way for Powerball, including a conversion of all Super 6 Lotto billboards to Powerball billboards that will update players on the amount of the jackpot.
Players pay $1 and select five white balls from a set of 49 numbers plus a single red ball, the Powerball, from a second set of 42 numbers. Danyluk said a new feature of Powerball, called “Power Play,” gives players the options of increasing their winnings as much as five times.
Power Play costs an extra $1 per ticket and is determined right before the numbers are drawn by a wheel with 12 slots numbered one through five. If a player has chosen the Power Play option and qualifies for any cash prize other than the Powerball jackpot, she said the Power Play number multiplies the prize amount that a person would receive.
“This is an enhanced feature that was just added to the game and we will encourage players to choose it,” Danyluk said. “The top prize after the jackpot is $100,000 fixed, but it could be $500,000 if someone picks the Power Play, so it can be a win/win situation.”
The Lottery is also hoping for a revenue win, as well. Danyluk said early estimates show that between $60 and $100 million in increased sales related to Powerball could occur in the first year, which would mean an influx of $35 million to the Lottery.
Lottery proceeds are used for programs to benefit senior citizens, such as property tax and rent rebates, free and reduced transit, PACE and PACENET prescription drug programs and 52 Area Agencies on Aging, she said.
Local Lottery retailers are hoping for increased sales thanks to Powerball, but how much of an increase is anyone’s guess.
Dan Suba, working to print tickets and sell instant games at the Lottery kiosk in Uniontown Mall last week, said people are excited about playing the multi-state game, which he said will keep some money that would have gone to West Virginia and other states in Pennsylvania. He said initial interest should be high, but will probably level off until the jackpot grows high.
“We get a lot more people playing when it’s $100 million rather than $20 million,” he said.
One of those interested players was a woman who only identified herself as Kathy from Smock, a weekly Lottery player for more than 25 years. She said that Powerball will be good for both old and new players because the pay-outs are higher, especially when the top prize will be no lower than $10 million.
“That number is a good place to start,” she said. “The Daily Number and Big 4 don’t pay enough and everyone wants to win big.”
She said her co-workers often travel to West Virginia to play Powerball even when the jackpots aren’t astronomical, and said she plans on playing the new game from the first drawing.
Meanwhile, Danyluk reminded regular players that the Daily Number, Big 4 and Cash 5 will be drawn nightly at 7 p.m. and the drawings for the Super 6 Lotto have already been changed to Tuesday and Friday nights to accommodate Powerball.
For now, she said all of the current games will remain in play and said there are no plans at the moment to get rid of the Super 6 Lotto.
“It’s a good mid-level game and the players really like it, so we will keep it for a while,” Danyluk said. “Still, $30 million or $40 million could change somebody’s life.”
The highest jackpot ever paid in Super 6 Lotto was $86 million, far lower than the Powerball record jackpot of $295.7 million in July 1998. However, odds of winning Powerball are 80 million- to-1, while odds of matching all six numbers in the Super 6 are a still staggering but somewhat smaller at 40 million-to-1.
Tickets go on sale every day at 5 a.m., but sales will be terminated at 9:59 p.m. on Powerball drawing nights so that transactions can be sent to Iowa, where Powerball is drawn. The Powerball drawings will air at 11 p.m. on the same television stations that broadcast the Pennsylvania Lottery drawings, she said.
Once your Powerball numbers are printed, the tickets cannot be cancelled, she said. With all Pennsylvania Lottery games, players have 10 minutes to check their tickets to make changes, so she encouraged all Powerball players to fill out the betting slip to ensure their numbers will appear correctly on the ticket.
Another feature of Powerball allows jackpot winners to select within 60 days following the drawing whether they would like their winnings in cash or annuity. After 60 days, the winnings will only be paid by annuity.