France has its Loto, Europe its EuroMillions, the United States has its Powerball. In this Monday’s draw, 1.9 billion dollars. Simply the biggest jackpot in the world.
It’s a world record: 1.9 billion at stake in Powerball, the American lottery, on Monday 7 November. If we reach this astronomical sum, it is because for 40 draws in a row, no one has hit the jackpot: each time, the gain is put back into play, with a snowball effect. The Powerball is exactly like our Lotto: you buy a ticket (two dollars), you tick five numbers (out of 69) and a bonus number (out of 26). On the day of the draw, the balls spin in large transparent spheres and if you get it right, you pocket the bet. It’s all in the “if”. The probability of winning: a chance in 292 million.
Tonight’s #powerball numbers are in! Check if you’ve won a prize ➡️ https://t.co/eQwSB6NEre pic.twitter.com/YemfBfdbIT
— Powerball USA (@PowerballUSA) November 6, 2022
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been winners, though. On Saturday, November 5, in the last draw, 17 players matched five out of six numbers, which still earned them a million dollars each (one of them having paid an extra dollar for the “Power Play” option “, he was even able to double his winnings to two million dollars). But you have to go back to January 2016 to find the previous record, a Powerball jackpot of $1.586 billion: the prize was shared between three winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
The jackpot now stands at $1.9 billion – more than 29,000 years of income for an average American household: an astronomical sum that drives gamblers crazy. In Franklin and Oneida counties, Idaho, ticket sales are up 597% this week compared to “a more traditional week a month ago“, when the jackpot was around $ 354 million, said David Workman, spokesman for the Idaho Lottery at New York Times. Some players do not hesitate to spend several hundred or even several thousand dollars to increase their chances.
We have our first #powerball purchase of the morning at the Red X in Riverside, MB (it opens at 7). This store has a reputation for lottery winners because it annually sells the most or second most lottery tickets in MB.
This man said “early bird gets the worm!” pic.twitter.com/hFbp4wHFUZ
—Charlie Keegan (@CharlieKeegan41) November 2, 2022
So much so that even Powerball boss Drew Svitko felt compelled to urge everyone to be in moderation: Remember, he says “it’s supposed to be inexpensive entertainment” then “please play within your limits. After all, it only takes one ticket to win“.
The more the gain increases, the more the criticisms multiply. The Powerball was born thirty years ago, in 1992, and its rules are regularly modified with a single objective: to reduce the probability of winning to mechanically increase the amount of the jackpots. Because it is statistical, in the United States as elsewhere, the greater the gain, the more players there are, who therefore have less and less chance of winning. But above all, it is the most modest who play. The director of an organization which campaigns for the prohibition of gambling, Stop Predatory Gambling, explains to the Time that tobacconists and grocery stores authorized to sell tickets are much more numerous in low-income neighborhoods, where black and Latino communities are concentrated. Which is not the best way to act on wealth inequality when inflation at more than 8% is already penalizing a large part of the population.
People are betting food money on #powerballhoping to win and offset #Democrat #Inflation.#ElectionDay #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/nKXtxh4ByJ
—CupCakeNews (@CupCakeBreaking) November 6, 2022
Powerball defends itself: half of the revenue generated by ticket sales is used to fund the kitty, 9% is allocated to operating costs and 6% to retailer commissions. But 35% of these revenues are donated to the States which use it to finance their public services, as they choose. Pennsylvania invests in programs for seniors; Wisconsin cuts property taxes. And most use the lottery money to fund public school. With perverse effect: in North Carolina, for example, the initial state bill to establish the lottery stated that “net lottery revenues should supplement and not replace the total amount of funds allocated for such public purposes“. According to CNN, this specification has since been removed from the law.
As French, you can play, on one condition: to be physically on American territory. Only five states (Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah) do not sell tickets. It is also possible to try your luck from the US Virgin Islands and from Puerto Rico.
The lucky winner(s) (if several of them have chosen the winning combination, they will share the winnings) will have to choose between receiving the full amount via 30 different payments over… 30 years ; they can also choose to be paid immediately, all at once. Which brings the price down a bit, to $929.1 million. In either case, the sum is subject to federal taxes plus local taxes. As a foreigner, if you win, the taxman will tax you at 44.6%, not 39.6% as for a US resident. The draw is at 5 a.m. Tuesday, November 8, Paris time.