Is Powerball Australia Or USA The Best?

Each version of Powerball has its pros and cons. There is a balance between the two that makes it difficult to say which one is better than the other. There are some important factors to consider, such as jackpot prize sizes, prize sizes for divisions 2 - 9, odds of winning the jackpot and for winning ANY prize.

To play Powerball Australia, players need to choose 7 main numbers from a pool of 1 to 35, and a single Powerball number from a separate pool of 1 to 20.

To play US Powerball, players need to choose 5 main numbers from a pool of 1 to 69, and a single Powerball number from a separate pool of 1 to 26.

Each lottery allows you to select your own lottery numbers, or to have them randomly generated for you. Although it’s a commonly held belief that picking your own numbers can be advantageous, in reality it doesn’t matter which method you choose. It in no way affects your chances of winning a prize.

Jackpots are one area where US Powerball is the clear winner.

Its highest ever jackpot (drawn November 7, 2022) was a very impressive $2.958 billion! This was the second jackpot to exceed the $2 billion mark, with another worth $2.369 billion won in January 2016. Even the 10th largest US Powerball jackpot was worth $880 million!

Powerball Australia has also had some very impressive jackpots, albeit they appear smallish in comparison with US Powerball. The highest ever was in Oct, 2022 and was a very substantial $160 million. The rest of the top 10 highest jackpots highlights some very significant wins.

If you were to decide to play Powerball tonight and were the sole division 1 winner, you’d win at least $3,000,000, as this is the minimum jackpot prize in Powerball Australia. US Powerball has a minimum jackpot 10 times larger at $30,000,000.

Here are the top 10 all-time largest jackpots for each lottery:

Each Powerball variant has 9 prize divisions. Below is how many winning numbers are required to win each division in each lottery:

To win the US Powerball jackpot or Powerball Australia jackpot, all of the drawn main numbers and the Powerball must be matched.

US Powerball players can win a division 9 prize just by picking the winning Powerball number. Because of this, the Powerball Guaranteed system entry (see below) guarantees at least a division 9 prize.

It should also be noted that the division 2 prize is worth an unusually huge $1.4 million. This is very significant for a prize that isn’t even the jackpot!

For Powerball Australia, the prizes vary draw to draw and are dependent on the size of the total prize pool and how many winners were in each division.

For US Powerball, aside from the jackpot, all of the prizes are fixed, meaning they stay the same for each draw.

US Powerball has an additional feature available called “Power Play”. This optional extra is known as a prize multiplier. The multiplication factor is selected at random before each draw, and can multiply prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 times. The 10 times Power Play is not available when the jackpot prize is at the equivalent of USD$150,000,000 or more. The Power Play does not apply to the jackpot prize, only prizes in divisions 2 to 9. Additionally, when the Power Play has been purchased, the division 2 prize can only ever be doubled, regardless of which multiplication factor has been selected.

The prizes for each US Powerball draw, with and without the Power Play, are below:

Powerball Australia does not offer the Power Play or an equivalent feature.

A system entry differs from a standard entry by letting you choose a different amount of lotto numbers than normal. For example, the Powerball Guaranteed (also known as a ‘PowerHit’ in Powerball Australia) system entry means you don’t need to select the Powerball number, as it is automatically guarantees that your game will have the correct Powerball number. This brings you one step closer to winning the main prize.

Another example of a system entry is the ability to choose more main numbers than normal. To illustrate this, for Powerball Australia you normally pick 7 main numbers. A system 9 entry lets you pick 9 main numbers instead. This increases the odds that you will win a prize, as you are covering more numbers that could potentially be drawn.

System entries are more expensive than normal games, but the trade-off is greater odds of winning a prize.

System entries are offered in both Powerball variants, although only some US Powerball sellers offer this feature.

US Powerball provides two options, giving winners a choice in how they prefer to receive their jackpot prize.

The first option is the lump sum payment. This is a one-off payment of the entire prize to the winner.

The second option is annuity payments. This is one immediate prize payment, and then 29 annual payments, each 5% bigger than the previous year’s payment.

The lump sum payment is by far the more popular choice. Likely contributing to this is the fact that 29 years is a long time and there are no guarantees one would live long enough to collect the entire prize. In the event of a winner dying before all 30 payments have been received, the winner’s estate will take ownership of the remaining annual payments.

While the lump sum option is smaller than the advertised jackpot, it has some advantages over the annuity, with the obvious one being that the entire prize can be collected and enjoyed at once. Having the money all at once also provides better opportunities for investing and growing the money.

Powerball Australia does not provide options on how to receive jackpot prizes. A lump sum payment is the only method of receiving jackpot winnings.

Taxes in Australia are not paid for either lottery.

However, Powerball Australia has the advantage here, as winnings for US Powerball may be subject to tax in the USA, depending on the size of the winning. There is a state tax, which varies depending on the state in which the ticket was purchased, and there is also a federal tax. All USA taxes are taken from the prize payout, and not paid by the winner at a later date.

Taxes in Australia may be applicable on interest earnings from either lottery, however, professional tax advice is recommended.

The overall odds of winning a prize favours US Powerball at 1 in 24.87, while Powerball Australia comes in at 1 in 44.

On the flipside, the odds of winning the jackpot are more favourable for Powerball Australia at 1 in 134,490,400, while US Powerball is 1 in 292,201,338.

The trade-off is that while Powerball Australia comes with better jackpot odds, the jackpots are much smaller. At the same time, the odds of any winning any prize is better for US Powerball, which is worth considering when division 2-9 prizes can be boosted with the Power Play feature.

Here are the odds of winning each division for each lottery:

There are 3 US Powerball draws each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in Tallahassee, Florida, at 12:59pm.

There is 1 Powerball Australia draw each week, on Thursday nights at 8:30pm.

If you wish to play Powerball tonight, check to see if a draw’s happening and get your entry!

Powerball Australia costs $1.21 per game to play.

US Powerball costs $7 per game to play.

Part of the reason for the price discrepancy is the fact that the prizes are much more substantial in US Powerball. This, combined with the fact that tickets are purchased in USD results in higher ticket prices.

This highlights another point of balance between the two lotteries and all factors should be weighed up when deciding which Powerball variant to play.

Alternatively, there are no reasons why you couldn’t play both!

Jackpot prize winners in all Australian lotteries have the right to keep their identity confidential should they choose to do so. This includes Powerball Australia. In the USA, some states require that US Powerball jackpot winners publicly reveal their identity as a condition of claiming their prize. This is for transparency and accountability purposes. The idea is that by publicly disclosing the identity of the winner, the public can see that the lottery is fair and legitimate, and that the winner is a real person and not someone who works for the lottery or has some other connection to it.

This does not apply in all jurisdictions; some allow anonymity for jackpot winners. If US Powerball entries are bought in Australia by a Government licensed website, any winners will not have the right to remain anonymous unless the licensee is operating its own approved matched US Powerball lottery. Some online retailers simply reselling US lottery tickets require that winners travel to the USA themselves to collect their own jackpot winnings. If a player buys a winning ticket through one of these sites, they may be required to reveal their identity in the USA, depending on the jurisdiction in which the ticket was purchased. Because of this, it’s highly advisable that when playing US Powerball online in Australia, players don’t choose one of these websites, and instead opt for a Government licensed site, preferably Australian-owned and operated matched lotteries.

US Powerball can be played online from Australia and New Zealand. For their own security, and to ensure they don’t need to travel to the USA themselves to collect any winnings, players should be sure to play only through Australian owned and operated sites that advertise this fact and that are Government licensed. Some sites even allow deposits to be made to an online lottery account at selected newsagencies. Powerball Australia can be played in retailers and online through multiple websites Australia-wide.

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