LOS ANGELES—After a unanimous vote by the State Lottery Commission on Wednesday, November 28, California is welcoming the popular Powerball game in April 2013.

Beginning sales on April 8, the new addition to lottery games is expected to add $50 to $100 million to public education funding, which is the main mission of the lottery here in California. Last Wednesday’s drawing for Powerball produced the largest jackpot in the game’s history with a cash value of $384,000,000 in Arizona and Missouri.

The jackpot begins at $40 million and increases at least $10 million more every roll. While the drawings use to take place at Universal Studios in Orlando, they now occur in Tallahassee, TN.

Winner of Powerball

To play the game, players choose five numbers between 1 and 59 and one red Powerball number between 1 and 35. Five out of 59 white balls are chosen and 1 red ball (Powerball) out of 35 numbers is chosen; these are the winning numbers. It costs $2 per regular number, and $3 for “power playing”, where your odds of winning are higher. Powerball players winning any prize other than the Jackpot will win a larger cash prize.

The game’s website states “players win by matching 1 of the 9 ways to win. The Jackpot (won by matching all 5 white balls in any order and the red Powerball) is either an annualized prize paid out over 29 years (30 payments) or a lump sum payment.”

Drawings are every Wednesday and Saturday at promptly 7:59 p.m. (PST). The nine ways of winning are different based on a state’s par-mutual rules, which California has. This means that lottery betting is shared, and the bigger the pool the more shared of a return the winnings will produce.

California is 1 out of 8 states that do not currently offer Powerball. Among the rest are Utah, Nevada, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi and Wyoming.

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