Changes are coming to Powerball and they won't help you hit it big.
According to gaming officials, your odds of hitting a top jackpot will decrease, but your odds of winning smaller prizes will increase.
In Powerball, players select five numbers between 1 and 59 on one panel and one number between 1 and 35 from a second panel. One ticket costs $2.
The New York Gaming Commission, which oversees the multi-state Powerball lottery, says Powerball ticket sales have steadily declined because there hasn’t been a huge jackpot in over a year.
Now, it will focus on games with more consistent jackpots to increase sales, which they say will help keep the Powerball game active.
Proceeds from Powerball tickets go towards education funding in the states that participate, and in a memo, the Gaming Commission said without Powerball, that funding would be negatively affected.
Once the changes are implemented, your odds of winning the Jackpot go from 1 in 175,223,510 to 1 in 292,201,338. Your odds of winning $4 will improve from 1 in 111 to 1 in 92.
The changes take effect Oct. 4 for the Oct. 7 drawing.
Powerball is played in 44 States, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.