Get ready for even bigger jackpots: Powerball is going international

Starting later this summer, pending approval from the U.K. Gambling Commission, lottery players in the United Kingdom will have a chance to win the Powerball jackpot. Ticket prices, however, will remain at $2 in the U.S., and officials say the odds of winning will remain the same, despite the increased number of players. (Powerball odds, which stand at 1 in 292.2 million, are set by the universe of numbers and draw mechanics, which will remain unchanged.)

The partnership marks the first time a non-U.S. lottery will contribute to the Powerball jackpot.

"This partnership expands the player base in a way that benefits every jurisdiction participating in Powerball," said Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO, in a statement (3).

Further, as quoted in an Associated Press article (4), Strawn said, "Players consistently tell us in survey after survey that faster growing Powerball jackpots is what they'd like to see. Not surprisingly, the higher the jackpots grow the more people play the game in a particular drawing. The more people play, the higher sales grow. The higher sales grow, the higher the jackpots get, the more people play."

Who can win what?

Players on both sides of the pond will be eligible for the grand prize, but the lower-tier prizes will remain exclusive to U.S. players.

The drawings will remain the same. Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET (3:59 a.m. or 4:59 a.m. in the U.K., depending on daylight savings time), someone at the Powerball draw studio in Florida will select five white ball numbers from 1 to 69 and one red Powerball number from 1 to 26.

Jackpot totals will be the same in each country, but that might not be immediately obvious. Estimated jackpot amounts will show as different, in part because of currency conversion rates. The U.S. lottery also advertises prize amounts pretax. U.K. players see what they'll get after the government's cut.

Steep odds

While the odds of winning the Powerball aren't any worse than they were before the agreement, the lottery is still a lousy way of planning for big financial events, like retirement. To put 1 in 292.2 million into some context, the 1980 U.S. men's hockey team victory over the U.S.S.R — the "Miracle on Ice" — had odds of 1,000 to one (5). Your odds of being struck by lightning this year are 1 in 1.5 million (6), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And, according to a 2014 paper by Tulane University earth sciences professor Stephen A. Nelson, you've got a one in 1.6 million (7) chance of dying from a meteorite, asteroid or comet impact.

Should you manage to overcome those odds, one of the biggest mistakes lottery winners make is treating the winnings like they're not real, and spending them without much thought. Experts say the best thing you can do if you win a lottery is find an experienced financial advisor to help you manage it, along with an attorney and tax expert who all work together to protect your winnings and your financial future.

And if you don't win, you might be comforted at the fact that, over 34 years, buying a Powerball ticket has helped to fund around $38 billion in public programs (3) including education, financial literacy and veterans' services.

Article Sources

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Connecticut Lottery (1); NBC (2); Powerball (3); NBC Connecticut (4); Action Network (5); KSNB Local 4 (6); National Geographic (7)