The exchange rate that South Africans are experiencing these days can be a blessing when it comes to exchanging euros, pounds or dollars to rand. The daily, weekly and monthly fluctuation in rates has been ongoing for a lengthy period and doesn’t look like it will flatten out anytime soon. This plays into entering the lottery as well, especially those that pay out in the rand equivalent of American, British and European currencies.
The odds of winning billions of rands in the United States of America’s Powerball draw is one such example.
For an early example of this value, look to the biggest jackpot win in the history of the Powerball in the States. It was in 2016 and equated to around R22.5 billion, split three ways between a trio of winners. So that was still almost R8 billion each. The US Powerball is actually responsible for three of the highest five lottery payouts of all time.
The USA Powerball odds for winning the main prize are approximately one in 292 million. That’s a lot, indeed, but comparatively not as high as the one in 302 million for the US MegaMillions or Italy’s SuperEnaLotto’s one in 620 million.
Interestingly, the odds of winning any prize in the US Powerball – not just the jackpot – are about one in 24. Even a prize at the lowest level could translate to some decent profit for your entry because of, again, that hefty exchange rate from dollars to rands. Odds of one in 24 are stronger than, say, the Irish Lotto’s one in 29, German Lotto’s one in 31 or Swedish Lotto’s one in 51.
When it comes to entering the USA Powerball, things have been kept nice and simple. You have to select five numbers from a pool of 1 to 69. Then you need to select a bonus number, called the ‘Powerball’, from 1 to 26.
The number of times the draw takes place is appealing as well. It happens three times per week. That’s once more than many other lotteries you might be familiar with that only happen twice a week. The US Powerball draws occur on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays in the States. That means early morning Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday in South Africa.
If you are into factoids, it’s interesting to note that the US Powerball started as Lotto America in 1988. Four years later, in 1992, it changed its name to what we know it as today. The current format wasn’t always like this either. The format has been changed twice in the draw’s existence of 30-plus years.
In 2005, 100-plus fans of Chinese food won big money in the US Powerball draw with the numbers they got from their fortune cookies. This was an interesting example of winning the lottery with set manual numbers rather than opting for a random selection of digits. This is a lovely anecdotal view of the US Powerball, which continues to add value to the lives of South Africans and other citizens around the world.
