2005 Press Releases

NEW PLAYER-DRIVEN CHANGES TO POWERBALL® GAME
WILL GENERATE LARGER JACKPOTS, FASTER

Dover, DE -- The 29 lotteries that operate POWERBALL® voted to change the nation's first big, multi-state jackpot game to meet player demand for larger and faster growing jackpots. The new changes being announced today, and taking effect August 28, 2005, will offer larger jackpots and the potential for creating many $1 million winners from players selecting the Power Play multiplier with their Powerball tickets.

New changes to the POWERBALL® game will include an increased starting jackpot of $15 million; the current jackpot starts at $10 million. Jackpots will increase by no less than $5 million per drawing compared with the current minimum increase of $2 million per drawing. In addition to the higher $15 million starting jackpot and the minimum $5 million rollover, winners who match all five white balls (second prize level) will enjoy a cash award increase from $100,000 to $200,000. This increase will allow players who add an additional $1 for the Power Play option the opportunity to multiply their winnings by five and win up to $1 million.

"Lotteries that participate in the Powerball game continuously monitor player preferences in their home states to learn of possible changes that will help Powerball remain the most popular jackpot game in the country," said Wayne Lemons, Delaware Lottery Director. "All Lottery games, including Powerball, need to be changed over their life as populations change and players seek new and larger prizes from big jackpot games," said Lemons.

Since the start of POWERBALL® in 1992, there have been four updates to the game structure. In order to offer these new adjustments, players will select five of 55, instead of five of 53 white balls. The player selection of the red POWERBALL will remain unchanged at one of 42 numbers. The overall odds of winning a cash prize will remain virtually the same, 1 in 36.60 up slightly from the current 1 in 36.06. Odds of winning a jackpot prize will change to 1 in 146.1 million from the current 1 in 120.5 million.

"We're very excited about these new changes to POWERBALL®, Lemons said. "We believe the changes will offer our players more opportunities and winning experiences like Delaware's 217 past winners of the $100,000 prize level and 6 past Powerball jackpot winners."

Since the start of operations in 1975, the Delaware Lottery has contributed more than
$1.8 billion to the state's General Fund to help finance needed state services that benefit everyone in Delaware. The Lottery offers a variety of games: POWERBALL®, MULTI-WIN LOTTO, PLAY 3, PLAY 4, and assorted Instant Games.