How does Powerball work?

Asked by Dutchess_III (47052

) December 14th, 2014

Since my cousin won big in Powerball, we’ve been buying tickets like crazy! However there are somethings I don’t understand about this.

OK, so I learned that they draw for Powerball on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m.

I go here every Thursday and Sunday to check my numbers. I set it to go back a year, because people have 365 days to claim their money.
So far, every ticket I have appears to hit on $4.00 at some point in the last year, sometimes more than once, and I don’t understand that. Are they winners or not?
For example, I have a ticket that has the numbers:
12 28 30 31 41 23(pb). The drawing date on the ticket is Dec 6, 2014.
If you plug them in it shows a hit on 9/17/14, 6/11/14 and 1/1/14. But when I ran it by the clerk I bought it from, it wasn’t a winner.

Can someone explain this?

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5 Answers

The numbers are only good for the date of drawing specified on the ticket. So if you had a tickets for last nights drawing, those numbers are only valid for last night. If they came up on previous or future drawings, it doesn’t count for anything.

Seaofclouds (23108

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@Seaofclouds is right and the date of the drawing for your numbers is on the ticket itself. You also can win lesser amount prizes by matching some of the numbers. The link explains it.

http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_prizes.asp

prairierose (1853

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Not sure what your financial situation is, @Dutchess_III, but the likelihood of your winning the lottery is very tiny. Although your cousin may have won big, she is in the tiny minority of big jackpot winners. You really are better off putting that money you are spending on tickets toward something else that will make you money – put it in the bank, put it toward stocks or other funds, or just put in the piggy bank.

jca (36062

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I know that, @jca.

Dutchess_III (47052

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So far all I am out is $2.00 on the first ticket I bought. I hit for $4.00 on that first one, and bought two more tickets with it.

Dutchess_III (47052

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