It's harder to win the Powerball jackpot

New rules make it harder to win big

Your chances of winning the Powerball this fall just got a lot worse.  In October, Powerball will change the fields of numbers available in drawings.

Right now there are 59 balls in the field of possible numbers in the first part of the drawing , to select the five winning balls. The Gaming Commission plans to add 10 balls to that field, raising it to 69 balls. This will change the odds from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292 million.

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But there is good news for optimists. You will have a better chance at winning a lesser price. Powerball will lower the number of balls in the second field from which the actual Powerball is drawn. That field will drop from 35 to 26. The lowest prize in Powerball is $4, which is won by just choosing the Powerball number correctly.

The new changes take effect on October 4 in time for the October 7 drawing.


About the Author:

Robert Brown is the assignment manager at News 6. He joined the team in July 2018 as a producer and was promoted in 2020. Before moving to The City Beautiful, he spent six years in Jacksonville at WJXT-TV. Robert graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism.