Queues are forming at Lotterywest stores across Western Australia, with Lotterywest predicting close to one million tickets will be sold in tonight’s $100 million Powerball jackpot, as local players vie for a chance to win a slice of the prize.
The $100 million prize offer is the biggest Powerball jackpot ever offered in the Australian game’s 22-year history.
It’s also the equal highest Australian lottery jackpot ever recorded. The only other time there was a $100 million prize offered in Australia was for an OZ Lotto draw in 2012.
This week’s history-making Powerball draw comes after no ticket entry has held all winning numbers in a single game for eight consecutive weeks.
As we count down to the draw, Lotterywest has revealed three popular Powerball entry types and what your chances of winning a prize on each offers.
• Slikpik 18
Costs $21.60 and gives you 18 chances to win. It offers odds of 1 in 2.95 of picking up a Powerball prize in the draw and odds of 1 in 7.5 million of taking home the $100 million prize.
• Powerpik 7
Costs $24, gives you 20 chances to win and guarantees you the winning Powerball number. It offers odds of 1 in 2.72 of picking up a Powerball prize in the draw and odds of 1 in 6.7 million to take home the $100 million prize.
• Syndicates
Syndicates are a great way to share the cost of a ticket and increase your chances of winning a prize, it just means whatever you win, you share. If 16 syndicate members purchase two Powerpik 8 tickets it will cost each member $23.90, offer an overall 320 chances to win, and guarantee you the winning Powerball number. Both tickets combined offer odds of 1 in 1.31 of picking up a Powerball prize in the draw and odds of 1 in 420,283 to take home the $100 million prize.
Lotterywest spokesperson Pina Compagnone said it was expected to get increasingly busy up to the 6pm draw close.
“We would certainly encourage players to get in early with sales set to peak between 4pm and 5pm when more than 1,000 tickets will churn from Lotterywest terminals every minute,” Ms Compagnone said.
She said another record could be smashed tonight if one entry won the entire $100 million jackpot.
“If one single entry takes home the $100 million Division One prize, it would break not only Western Australian but national records to become the largest lottery prize ever won,” she added.
“The current record is held by a couple of Hervey Bay grandparents who won $70 million in January 2016. Before their life-changing windfall the winners confessed to never having won anything more than “a chook raffle!”
If there are no Division One winners in tonight’s $100 million Powerball draw, the jackpot will soar higher and set a new Australian record. Just how high that jackpot would be for the following week will be determined after tonight’s draw.
So far this year, Western Australia has produced 32 Division One winning entries who have shared in $67 million.
Tickets can be purchased until 6pm from Lotterywest in-store, online or via the app.
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Media Enquiries Pina Compagnone: 9488 6227 / 0438 996 884