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Powerball Welcomes Florida
Powerball Welcomes Florida
It’s official! Florida will now be joining the states that offer their citizens the opportunity to play the Powerball Lottery. The number of states offering Powerball now stands at 32 states including, Arizona Lottery, Colorado Lottery, Connecticut Lottery, D.C. Lottery (District of Columbia), Delaware Lottery, Idaho Lottery, Hoosier Lottery (Indiana), Iowa Lottery, Kansas Lottery, Kentucky lottery, Louisiana Lottery Corporation, Maine Lottery, Minnesota State Lottery, Missouri Lottery, Montana Lottery, Nebraska Lottery, New Hampshire Lottery Commission, New Mexico Lottery, North Carolina Education Lottery, North Dakota Lottery, Oklahoma Lottery, Oregon Lottery, Pennsylvania Lottery, Rhode Island Lottery, South Carolina Education Lottery, South Dakota Lottery, Tennessee Education Lottery, Virgin Islands Lottery, Vermont Lottery, Wisconsin Lottery, and the West Virginia Lottery.
The addition of Florida means bigger jackpots and slightly altered odds. Players will actually have a better chance of winning smaller prizes according to the North Carolina lottery. Many new features have been added including changes in white and red ball numbers. White balls will now be numbered 55 to 59 while the number of red balls , the Powerball , a player can select will be reduced from 42 to 39. Odds of winning will now be 1 in 195 million and the odds of winning one of the many smaller prizes will improve to 1 in 35.
Other changes include,
1. The starting jackpot will be $20 million instead of $15 million.
2. Reduced odds will add an additional 3 million prizes.
3. The ticket price will remain the same and there will still be 9 ways to win. The power play option will be continued for an additional $1 and will be offering a random multiplier of 2X, 3X, 4X or 5X for all cash prizes won on the bottom seven prize levels.
4. The multiplier does not apply to the jackpot or 2nd prize.
5. The second tier Match 5 win now has a guaranteed $1 million prize when you purchase Power Play and match all five white balls. This $1 million prize will be paid in cash, in one lump sum less Federal and State withholdings.
The new Powerball game is expected to start in January of 2009. This is great news for lottery players nationwide and welcome Florida Powerball!
Several states now offer both Powerball and Mega Millions. States hard hit by the recession are looking for new ways to boost lagging ticket sales. Several states are exploring the possibility of allowing players to purchase lottery tickets on the internet. Most lottery experts agree that the merging of traditional lottery games with 21st century technology would be a wise move for state lotteries across the country.
The World's Biggest Lotteries
The World’s Biggest Lotteries
Lotteries are one of the oldest forms of gambling known to man. All across the ancient world lotteries were played. The construction of the Great Wall of China was partially financed through lotteries. The American Revolution was financed by various lotteries and venerable educational institutions such as Harvard and Princeton were started with lottery money. In Europe lotteries have a long and colorful history and cities and nations financed public works projects and provided aid to the poor with lottery generated revenues. It comes as no surprise that many of the world’s largest lotteries are found in Europe. Italy’s SuperEnaLotto is one of Europe’s largest and routinely offers jackpots in the hundreds of millions.
The UK National Lottery is the largest in the United Kingdom and one of Europe’s biggest. The lottery is run by gaming giant Camelot and players can buy UK national lottery tickets online. Best of all jackpots are paid in a lump sum and are tax free unlike US lotteries where taxes can easily eat up over 50% of a lotto jackpot. The National Lottery funds the ‘Big Lottery Fund’ which supports various causes and charities. The UK lotto has fourteen separate machines that can be used for lottery draws and many of the machines are named after characters in Arthurian legend such as Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, Vyvyan and Lancelot. The lottery is exceptionally popular and players from outside the UK can purchase online lottery tickets for the UK National Lottery.
EuroMillions is a pan European lottery and one of the world’s largest lotteries. Like most European lotteries Euromillions jackpots are tax free and paid in a lump sum. In 2006 three extremely ticket holders shared a ââ¬183,000,000($235,770,664.19 USD jackpot. Euromillions jackpots routinely exceed ââ¬100,000,000. ($128,822,882.59 USD) Euromillions lottery tickets can be bought online at the official website.
Powerball is an American multi state mega jackpot lottery. Powerball jackpots start at $20 million dollars and if there is no winner the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Powerball jackpots in excess of $100 million are relatively common. Powerball winners have the options of a lump sum payout or an annuity. Many players choose the annuity because of the heavy taxation of lump sum payouts. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million which was shared by eight co workers in Nebraska. An agreement reached in 2010 now allows the cross sale of Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets in most jurisdictions.
Mega Millions is another American multi state lottery game. Tickets are $1 and jackpots start at $12 million and, like Powerball, the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Mega Millions has provided the largest lottery jackpot on record anywhere in the world. In 2007 two Mega Millions ticket holders split an amazing $390 million dollar jackpot. Typically Mega Millions jackpots are paid in 26 yearly installments unless the cash option is selected. As has been mentioned most lottery jurisdictions in the US now sell Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets.
Spain’s El Gordo lottery is considered by some as the largest lottery in the world. El Gordo typically offers billions of Euros in prizes and the Christmas El Gordo drawings are legendary across Europe. Players can purchase El Gordo lotto tickets online at the official website or at one of the many online lottery services. Although El Gordo jackpots are not record setting the amount of money won is the largest in the world. There are hundreds of El Gordo winners every year.