If you have read about lottery winners hitting the jackpot, chances are you have heard of Powerball. Based in the US, this multi-state lottery is arguably 
one of the world’s most well-known lotteries. Along with the Mega Millions lottery, Powerball has a reputation around the world for handing out record-breaking jackpot prizes.
What makes it unique, is that it was the first of its kind to use two drums; one to draw the five white balls containing the five winning numbers, and another to draw the red Powerball. If a player got the five numbers plus the sixth red ball, they would win the jackpot! Drawing five correct numbers can still earn you a cool million, however.
The magic of Powerball lies in this; if no one plays all six sets of numbers, the jackpot rolls over to the next drawing. This means at least 10 million US dollars are added to the prize every week the winner is not drawn. Eventually, most of the possible combinations are bought, and the lucky jackpot winner is drawn.
The largest jackpot in history was a Powerball lottery jackpot valued at over 1.5 billion US dollars. Besides the jackpot, every drawing also includes prizes ranging from four dollars to two million dollars. The kicker? A Powerball ticket will cost you a grand total of two dollars. To multiply their winnings, players add the PowerPlay option, rounding off the cost at a steep three dollars.
What is PowerPlay?
The PowerPlay is a multiplier option which allows you to multiply any winnings you might make with a randomly-drawn value between two and five. For payouts from matching five balls correctly, winnings are doubled, so the million-dollar prize becomes a whopping two million dollars.
So be it due to PowerPlay or from the jackpot rolling on for successive weeks, the Powerball jackpot has the potential to be truly magical!