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Powerball is a popular lottery game combining lotteries from 32 American states. The Multi State Lottery Association conducts the Powerball lottery games, and the 32 states are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
In 1988, Powerball was established under the name Lotto America. Lotto America was changed to Powerball in April, 1992. It was the first lottery game to use two drums. Both drums mix up a set of balls and a person draws balls from each drum. This is why players must choose from two sets of numbers. However, it also gives players many ways to win money, making the odds of winning a prize 1 in 35, but in order to win the jackpot players have to guess all the numbers correctly.
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The way Powerball is played has changed over the years, but after January 7, 2009, players choose five numbers from between 1 and 59 and a Powerball number from between 1 and 39. One drums mixes up the balls from 1 and 59, and the second drum mixes up the balls from between 1 and 39. There is also a PowerPlay option since March, 2001, giving players a chance to win more money, such as the second prize bring raised from $200,000 to $1 million. The only prize unaffected is the jackpot. The draws for Powerball are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Universal studios in Orlando, Florida.
The jackpots ($20 million minimum) roll over each week that no one wins, and raises by at least $5 million. Powerball jackpot winners are given the option to receive their winnings as a lump sum or via 30 annual payments.
If for whatever reasons someone doesn't claim their jackpot winnings, the unclaimed prize money is given to the participating states, which are mostly given to the state's general fund. One time a ticket worth $51 million went unclaimed in Indiana.
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On March 30, 2005, the Powerball drawing grabbed game official's attention when 110 players turned in their second place winning tickets. The payout after taxes was $19.4 million. Because 110 people had all guessed five numbers correctly, the administrators suspected foul play, but after investigating, they discovered that the winners had gleaned the winning numbers from Chinese Fortune Cookies produced by the Wonton Food Inc. In an astronomical coincidence, thousands of their cookies held five of the winning numbers for the Powerball lottery. Furthermore, none of the factory's employees had played the winning numbers.
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West family from Jacksonville, Oregon won the $340 million Powerball jackpot in October 2005. The family split the money, giving each of them $40 million.
Another big payout went to Jack Whittaker from West Virginia for $313 million on Christmas day, 2002.
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MUSL is in the process of building a worldwide lottery game, which will create huge jackpots. The game is expected to be ready in 2011, and there are rumors that Powerball will combine with EuroMillions.
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