Once you have paid for the ticket, you need to choose five different white ball numbers which should be in the range of 1-55. Besides this, you also have to choose one red ball number. This is known as the Powerball number and has to be selected from a range of 1-42.

If you wish to leave it to the computer to choose your list of numbers on your lottery ticket – you are free to do so. This is known as quick pick. You also have the option of either choosing the five white ball numbers or the red Powerball number. Once this is done, you can use the quick pick method so that the computer selects the remaining numbers for you.

If you are ready to pay an additional dollar you can multiply your prize up to a maximum of 5 times by choosing the Power Play option. During special promotions the multiply option can even go to ten times the prize money. But remember this multiply option doesn’t cover the Powerball jackpot and match 5 bonus prize.

Now let’s see the nine different ways in which you can win at Powerball – to win the Powerball jackpot prize you need to match the five white ball numbers as well as the red Powerball number selected in the draw. Besides this you can also win prizes if you are able to match the numbers in the following ways:

5 white ball numbers
4 white ball numbers + Powerball number
4 white ball numbers
3 white ball numbers + Powerball number
3 white ball numbers
2 white ball numbers + Powerball number
1 white ball number + Powerball number
Only the Powerball number

There are different strategies for playing Powerball

Firstly don’t just stick to birthdates of your family members while selecting the numbers on your ticket. This will only cover up numbers up to 31 as a month has a maximum of 31 days. Make a study of the numbers in the past few Powerball lottery games, so that you can check the frequency of the numbers which come more often than the others. You can select these numbers when your gut feeling tells you to do so.

Some people like to a set of two or three combination of numbers for playing Powerball. They try to stick to this combination for a certain period of time. Even the strategy of sticking to a single combination of numbers has worked for some players. You can also form a group of players which would include you too. Then your group can try a minimum of four or five sets of numbers to play the Powerball. This strategy too has worked for many people.

The Power Ball is not held on a daily basis. Instead this lottery game is drawn twice a week on wednesdays and saturdays. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) co-ordinates this lottery game and it is played in approximately 30 states right now. Earlier the Power Ball was known as Lotto America. Although many lottery games now use two drums nowadays, the Power Ball was the first lottery game to use the two drums.

You normally need to pay $1 for a ticket of Power Ball. When you do this, you are given an opportunity to pick up five numbers which range from one to fifty-nine. Besides this you also get to choose a single number which can range from one to thirty-nine. If you pay an additional dollar, you also get an additional chance to use the Powerplay feature which uses a random multiplier for all the prizes excluding the jackpot. Thus your PowerPlay number will allow you to swell the non-jackpot rewards by two to five times the amount. You also get chance once a year to use the multiplier to swell your non-jackpot prizes to ten times the amount.

In case you win the jackpot amount, you have the choice of claiming your prize money as a single amount or even getting it as an annuity prize. The lowest jackpot prize amount which can be claimed by a winner is $20 million. This amount is divided into 30 payments which are given to the winner during a period of 29 years.

The best thing about the Power ball is that in case no one manages to win the jackpot amount, then the jackpot amount gets enlarged with a minimum amount of $5 million. You should always confirm the time period which is given to a winner for claiming the prize as it differs from one state to another. This will help you to avoid any kind of confusion or disappointment later.

If luck is on your side, you can win a very high amount as the jackpot if there has been a large number of rollover in the previous attempts. You will be pleasantly surprised to know that some jackpot amounts have reached a total of over $350 million. You also need to check and see if you have to pay any kind of income tax when you win a prize amount in Power Ball lottery game. This would once again depend on the sate you are residing in the US. Once you have cleared all your doubts about Power Ball, you can start playing it and check out your luck and have lots of fun too.