Since the first PowerBall draw on Friday, October 23, 2009, PowerBall has handed out the biggest lottery jackpots in South African lottery history, beating the older Lotto and Lotto Plus lotteries. So, it’s no surprise that after the PowerBall draws on Tuesday and Friday nights, millions of hopeful PowerBall winners check their tickets against the drawn numbers in the hope that they’re the next PowerBall millionaire. And with such a high average jackpot amount we think it should be known as the millionaire maker!
On November 28, 2015, a number of changes were introduced to the PowerBall game; including the launch of a new PowerBall Plus game. The chances of winning were massively improved with the addition of a ninth prize tier, which saw the odds of winning a prize reduced from 1 in 34 to 1 in 18. The cost of a PowerBall ticket rose to R 5, but the game has only grown in popularity with 40% larger jackpots since the changes.
It’s impossible to say exactly until after the PowerBall draw, as the size of the prize pool is based on how many tickets are sold for the draw and previous rollover amounts. However, we’ve analysed previous PowerBall draws and calculated the average amount won to give you an idea of how much you could win when you match anything from just the PowerBall, to matching 5 balls plus the PowerBall – Jackpot! The results are below but should only be used as a guide.
| Numbers Matched | Average Payouts |
|---|---|
| 5 + PowerBall | R 22,116,858* |
| 5 | R 366,137 |
| 4 + PowerBall | R 20,914 |
| 4 | R 375 |
| 3 + PowerBall | R 370 |
| 3 | R 18 |
| 2 + PowerBall | R 18 |
| 1 + PowerBall | R 15 (Fixed) |
| 0 + PowerBall | R 10 (Fixed) |
* Not counting draws with no jackpot winners.
PowerBall is the stand-out South African lottery generating bigger winners, more often. There are nine different ways (or divisions) to win the PowerBall lottery and more importantly, you win a prize for matching the PowerBall on its own, meaning the odds of winning anything are a lot better than Lotto or Lotto Plus.
Furthermore, the jackpot represents a much larger portion of the total prize pool at 42%, as opposed to Lotto’s 18%. So, when you do hit the PowerBall jackpot you can expect to win R 22,000,000 on average as opposed to Lotto’s R 6,000,000. More information on PowerBall’s prize pool and odds of winning can be found below.
| Numbers Matched | Odds Of Winning | Share Of Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + PowerBall | 1 in 24,435,180 | 41.12% |
| 5 | 1 in 1,286,062 | 7.35% |
| 4 + PowerBall | 1 in 122,176 | 3.72% |
| 4 | 1 in 6,430 | 5% |
| 3 + PowerBall | 1 in 3,133 | 6.76% |
| 3 | 1 in 165 | 5.74% |
| 2 + PowerBall | 1 in 247 | 3.82% |
| 1 + PowerBall | 1 in 53 | R 15 (Fixed) |
| 0 + PowerBall | 1 in 38 | R 10 (Fixed) |
As the name of this lottery suggests, the PowerBall itself is often the key to winning results. More than 78% of wins since October 2009 have involved the PowerBall so if you get this right then you’re in with a good chance.
Having every winning number, including the PowerBall, will see you join the ever-growing list of PowerBall jackpot millionaires.
While the odds of winning the PowerBall jackpot are higher than Lotto or Lotto Plus, if you do win, then you’re going to win big. An average jackpot payout of more than R 22,000,000 makes PowerBall the biggest among all South African lotteries. Unlike Lotto, 90% of PowerBall jackpot winners are single-ticket winners meaning that they don’t share their jackpot with anyone else.
While it may not reach the size of Europe’s Euro Millions, the UK’s National Lottery or US’s Mega Millions and PowerBall it’s certainly a serious amount of money.