Five white balls and one red Powerball. The jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338, among the longest of any major lottery.
You pick five numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26. The two groups are drawn from separate machines, so a number that comes up among the white balls can appear again as the Powerball.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| White balls | 5 from 1–69 |
| Powerball | 1 from 1–26 |
| Draws | Monday, Wednesday, Saturday (US Eastern, late evening) |
| Price per play | $2 (+$1 with Power Play) |
| Jackpot odds | 1 in 292,201,338 |
There are C(69,5) = 11,238,513 ways to match the five white balls. You then have to match one of 26 Powerballs, so the total is 11,238,513 × 26 = 292,201,338.
Matching the Powerball alone wins the smallest prize, at roughly 1 in 38. That is why a regular player sees something come back reasonably often — it is just usually about the price of the ticket.
A jackpot winner chooses between two payout structures. The headline figure is the annuity: 30 payments over 29 years, each slightly larger than the last.
The cash option pays the present value in one go, typically around half the advertised annuity, and tax comes out of that. Record-jackpot headlines almost always quote the annuity number.
If nobody matches all six, the jackpot rolls over to the next draw, which is how the advertised figure climbs.
US federal tax is withheld at 24% on winnings above $5,000, but that is only a down payment — the top marginal rate is 37%, and large jackpots land there. State tax is charged separately, ranging from nothing at all to more than 8% depending on where the ticket was bought.
Non-resident foreign winners are generally withheld at 30%. The tax comparison page sets the three countries side by side.
US lottery tickets are meant to be bought in a participating state. This site neither sells tickets nor acts as an agent, and does not advise on purchasing. It provides rules and odds information only.
The extra $1 multiplies non-jackpot prizes. These multipliers are generally priced so the expected value is close to neutral, so it is better understood as increasing variance than as improving your position.
Rules, odds, and tax treatment differ from game to game. Reading two of these side by side is the fastest way to see how much.