Powerball jackpots to $80m - but you could win 4 times more
The Powerball prize has reached its equal highest amount of the year with $80 million on offer for punters tonight - but there's also another lottery Aussies could take part in where they could win a staggering four times more.
The Lottery Office is offering Australians tickets in the $327 million USA Power Lotto jackpot, also being drawn this week, which means that there's an astronomical $407 million worth of lottery prizes on offer.
Ahead of the massive prize draws, The Lottery Office CEO Jaclyn Wood offered some expert advice for those looking to make their Lotto-winning dreams a reality.
“Statistically, the best way to increase your chances of winning a lottery prize is to buy more games but this can get expensive. Instead, Lotto Systems allows players to choose more numbers and boost their chances,” Ms Wood said.
“Players don’t have to win first division to walk away with a huge lottery prize, if they select the Multiplier feature their non-jackpot wins can be multiplied up to 10 times, making their division two and three prizes huge,” she said.
The Lottery Office is Australian-owned, operated and licensed by the Northern Territory Government, with offices in Darwin and on the Gold Coast.
Australians can't take part in overseas lottery draws directly, but if they buy a ticket with the Lottery Office, the office will purchase a matching ticket in the overseas draw on their behalf.
“If the customer wins, we pay them the exact amount of the winnings we collect from the overseas lottery ticket,” Ms Wood said.
Aussie players look to US for bigger jackpots
Ms Wood explained that Aussie lottery players are growing hungry for bigger jackpots, which has led to a growing interest in the USA Power Lotto.
“Our jackpots regularly exceed $100 million, so we only see a massive shift in customer behaviour when our prize pools climb towards the $400 million mark,” said Ms Wood.
“It’s the kind of prize that is completely ludicrous to fathom winning, it would completely change your life,” she said.
Earlier this month, a NSW business owner won $1,656,020 as a division two winner in the Lottery Office’s USA Power Lotto.
The lucky NSW winner said that the win was an “absolute miracle” and that it saved their struggling business.
“I have been in business for almost 30-years but due to the devastating impact of Covid-19, I was about to go under,” the winner said.
“I feel like this win is an absolute miracle that has saved my life, and I won’t let this opportunity go to waste, I will put this money towards paying off debts and saving my business,” they added.
‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers ahead of $80m Powerball draw
Rather than leave it up to chance, Matt Hart from The Lott is suggesting that players should consider how they interpret “hot” and “cold” numbers.
“While Powerball is a game of chance, and every number has an equal chance of being drawn, some numbers have been drawn more often than others,” said Mr Hart.
He then posed the question: “But will these ‘hot’ numbers make an appearance this week, or is it time for the ‘cold’ numbers to shine?”
Regardless of whether you play “hot” or “cold”, The Lott revealed that the most frequently-drawn numbers for Powerball in the past three years were 17, 7, 19 and 3.
On the other hand, the least-commonly drawn numbers for Powerball were shown to be 34, 15, 18, 16 and 8.
The $80 million Powerball draw 1317 will take place on Thursday, August 12 at 7:30pm AEST, while the USA Power Lotto will be drawn on Saturday, August 14 at 11:30pm AEST.
For your chance to win tonight’s Powerball, purchase a ticket at any licensed lottery outlet, online from The Lott or via The Lott mobile app.
If gambling is a problem for you go to Gambling Help Online or call 1800 858 858.
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