Powerball jackpots get longer odds to ensure more enticing prizes

You're nearly 100 times more likely to be killed by a shark than win the Powerball jackpot.

That's because the multistate Powerball system is slashing the probability of winning the top prize from 1 in 175,223,510 to 1 in 292,201,338.

The goal is to reduce the number of jackpot winners to ensure people who do win get bigger prizes.

'Powerball is a jackpot-driven game,” Iowa Lottery Spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said. 'In the last few years, people have hit more jackpots at lower levels. Sales nationwide have been down a little.”

The revamp - the eighth in Powerball's 23-year history - increases the odds of winning any prize and boosts the game's third prize level from $10,000 to $50,000. Players also have a chance to multiply most winnings by up to 10 times when the jackpot is $150 million or less.

Sales in the redesigned game start Oct. 4, with the first drawing Oct. 7. Tickets will still cost $2.

There will be changes to both sets of numbers players use. Players will choose their first five numbers from a set of 69 white balls, up from 59, and their Powerball from a pool of 26 red balls, down from 35.

The goal is to have better overall odds of winning any prize with longer odds of winning the jackpot.

Powerball jackpots will continue to start at $40 million and the game's second prize for matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball still will be $1 million. The game's third-prize level will get a fivefold increase, from $10,000 to $50,000, for matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball.

Since getting its start in April 1992 in 15 states, Powerball now is sold by 47 lotteries across the country, with players buying more than $4 billion a year in Powerball tickets, the Iowa Lottery reported. The biggest jackpot in the game so far was a $590.5 million prize won by a Florida woman in May 2013.

A group of 20 shipping department employees at the Cedar Rapids Quaker Oats plant won a $241 million Powerball jackpot in 2012 - the largest lottery prize won in Iowa since the state lottery started in 1985.

Iowa Lottery winners have won more than $3.4 billion in prizes since 1985, while the lottery has raised more than $1.6 billion for state programs.

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