Staff Report. January 13, 2012. RALEIGH – Tickets for the new version of Powerball will go on sale Sunday morning, giving players the chance to play for bigger jackpots and providing more chances to win $1 million or more.

The improvements, approved in June by lotteries that make up the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), mean the price of Powerball tickets will change to $2 each. Powerball is played in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery, said the new game should produce more $1 million prize winners because the prizes for matching the five white balls in the game will now be $1 million for a regular Powerball ticket and $2 million for those who buy a Power Play ticket for $3. If the new game had been in effect for all of 2011, 17 North Carolina Powerball players would have won $1 million, rather than $200,000, and nine players would have won $2 million rather than $1 million.

The last Powerball drawing under the current game structure is on Saturday, Jan. 14, with an estimated jackpot of $66 million. If the jackpot is won Saturday, the new starting jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing, the first under the new structure, will be $40 million, up from the old starting jackpot of $20 million. If no one wins the Saturday jackpot, the jackpot on Wednesday would be an estimated $80 million.

“Powerball jackpots not only will start bigger and grow faster, but we believe Powerball players here will like the much larger prizes they get for matching five white balls, too,” Garland said. “The improvements in the game should make it more popular and lead to higher Powerball sales and consequently more money for education in North Carolina.”

The odds of winning a jackpot will be one in 175 million, as opposed to the current odds of 1 in 195 million. The odds of winning a prize in the overall game will also get better, moving to 1 in 31.8, down from 1 in 35. The better odds result from a change in the numbers that can be drawn in the game. The numbers available for the Powerball will be reduced from 39 to 35. Powerball players will still choose their first five numbers from a pool of 1 to 59.

RECENT LARGER WINNERS

• Melvin Dula, a resident of Lenoir in Caldwell County, plans to use the $1 million prize he won playing Powerball to pay for his daughter’s education and donate to his church. “I thought I had hit four numbers and that we had won $200, which was great,” Dula said. “When I saw the other number, it was a whole different feeling. It doesn’t feel real. You can’t prepare for something like that.”
• It's the second lottery win for Jose Herrera in less than four months. In September, he won $5,000 playing $500,000 Anniversary Cash.
• Kendale Easterling, who works as a janitor in Charlotte, says he may use some of his winnings in Extreme Green to start his own cleaning service. He's the first player to win the new instant game's top prize. “I looked and saw a ‘2 and a ‘3’ and I thought, ‘This can’t be real,’” Easterling said Monday. “Then, when I looked at it again, I said, ‘This is real.’ I never thought this would happen. Not a top prize.”
• Susie and Danny Tarlton, who live in Stanfield, have won the largest Cash 5 jackpot ($138,454) ever awarded in Stanly County. “It’s not the Powerball jackpot, but in our lives, that’s a life-changing deal right there,” Danny Tarlton said as the couple collected their winnings. “Maybe it’ll be a continuation the rest of the year.

Game Report

Mega Millions: The jackpot for tonight’s drawing is $42 million if taken as an annuity or $30.7 million as a lump sum. In the Friday, Jan. 6 drawing, a total of 8,970 tickets paid out $57,411 in prizes ranging from $2 to $10,000. In the Tuesday, Jan 10 drawing, players won 9,075 prizes ranging from $2 to $30,000 for a total payout of $90,081.

Powerball: In the Saturday, Jan. 7 drawing, a total of 27,410 tickets paid out $308,773 in prizes ranging from $3 to $50,000. In the Wednesday, Jan. 11 drawing, players won 24,510 prizes ranging from $3 to $1 million for a total payout of $1,135,620. Because no ticket matched all six numbers, the jackpot for the Saturday, Jan. 14 drawing is an estimated $66 million if taken as an annuity or $41.6 million as a lump sum.

Since Friday, Jan. 6, players have collected more than $11.6 million in instant scratch-off ticket prizes. Carolina Pick 3 players have won more than $1.4 million. Carolina Pick 4 players have won more than $477,000 including 15 top prizes of $5,000. Carolina Cash 5 players have won more than $467,000. 

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.11 billion for the state and education initiatives it serves. Net proceeds are used for prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, reduction of class size in early grades, school construction and need-based college scholarships and financial aid. For prizes of $5,000 and greater, 25% federal tax and 7% state tax are automatically withheld.

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