16 Feb 2009
What Are The Odds?

Ah, the lottery! Powerball just got bigger, says the headline, and overall odds have improved! Sure they have ... read carefully:

Old Odds
Jackpot1:146,107,962
$200,0001:3,565,609
$10,0001:584,432
$1001:14,254
$1001:11,927
$71:291
$71:745
$41:127
$31:69
 
New Odds
Jackpot1:195,249,054
$200,0001:5,138,133
$10,0001:723,145
$1001:19,030
$1001:13,644
$71:359
$71:787
$41:123
$31:62

The overall odds of winning have in fact increased - very, very slightly. However, the only prize categories where the odds actually increased were the $3 and $4 prizes: this was due to decreasing the number of available Powerball picks while increasing the available numbers on the main ticket. The odds of winning a significant prize have decreased substantially. Fun with numbers, indeed!

Lotteries have a history of pulling this, Powerball more so than most: see the WikiPedia page on Powerball for more information.

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