Explained: How you can win Powerball’s $120m jackpot on Thursday night
It’s the second biggest ever prize pool in Australian lottery history — and it could all be yours on Thursday. See how you can boost your chance of winning.
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It’s the second biggest prize pool in Australian lottery history — and it could be yours.
With no Powerball winners from last week’s draw, the prize-pool has rolled over for a sixth week to hit $120 million on Thursday night.
And if a single person wins the mammoth cash that’s up for grabs, they’ll become the country’s largest individual lottery winner.
Three people shared in a $150 million jackpot in 2019 but this week’s $120 million is the greatest prize Powerball has offered in more than two and a half years.
Staggeringly, The Lott is expecting half of all Australian adults to enter the draw.
“If there’s just one division one winner this week, they will instantly become Australia’s biggest lottery winner ever,” The Lott spokesman Matt Hart said.
“This Powerball prize has captivated the nation and I’m sure many Aussies are happily contemplating how it could transform their lives.
“We’re expecting it to get busier and busier in-store and online as we inch closer to the draw’s close on Thursday evening.”
The Lott is encouraging any prospective winners to register their entries after buying their ticket, so they can be contacted directly if they win the division one prize.
Here’s how it could play out.
IF THERE’S ONE WINNER
If one player walks away with it all this week, they’ll enter the record books.
The previous biggest Australian win was a Sydney nurse who won more than $107 million in 2019.
TICKETS AND THE DRAW
For last week’s Powerball draw, the peak of sales was at 4.47pm when Aussies grabbed more than 6000 entries in a minute.
Anyone wanting to purchase a ticket should do so before 7.30pm AEST on Thursday, before the draw is conducted about an hour later. By 9pm AEST, it should be known if there are any division one winners.
If there are no division one winners, the Powerball jackpot will climb higher for next week’s draw.
AUSTRALIA’S 2021 LOTTERY HOTSPOTS
These are the suburbs in each state and territory whose outlets sold the most division one winning entries in 2021.
VICTORIA: The postcodes of 3004 for Melbourne, 3028 for Altona Meadows, 3429 for Sunbury, and 3199 for Frankston each sold three division one winning entries.
NSW: The postcode of 2444 for Port Macquarie sold four division one winning entries, while 2127 for Wentworth Point/Sydney Olympic Park and 2750 for Penrith/South Penrith each sold three division one winning entries.
QLD: The postcode of 4817 for Kirwan/Thuringowa sold four division one winning entries, while the postcodes of 4680 for Gladstone and 4740 for Mackay both sold three division one winning entries.
SA: The postcode of 5000 for Adelaide, 5009 for Kilkenny and 5253 for Murray Bridge each sold two division one winning entries.
TAS: The postcodes of 7310 for Devonport and 7320 for Burnie each sold two division one winning entries.
NT: The postcode of 0836 for Humpty Doo delivered the Northern Territory’s biggest 2021 prize of $35 million.
POWERBALL’S 2021 WINNING STATES
In 2021, 14 Powerball division one winners across Australia pocketed more than $550 million in prize money.
Of these wins, seven landed in New South Wales, four in Queensland, two in Victoria and one in Western Australia.
QUICKPICK OR MARKED ENTRIES?
Ten of last year’s 14 Powerball division one winning entries were QuickPick entries, where the lottery terminal randomly generated the numbers on the ticket. The remaining four entries featured numbers selected by the winner.
POWERBALL’S HOT AND COLD NUMBERS
To win Powerball’s division one prize, you need to have all seven winning numbers (drawn from the main barrel of 35 numbers) plus the Powerball (drawn from the Powerball barrel of 20 numbers) in a single game panel.
From the main barrel, the most frequently drawn winning numbers are 17, 7, 9, 11 and 25. The least frequently drawn winning numbers are 6, 31, 15 and 33.
For the separate Powerball barrel, the most frequently drawn Powerball number is 19, while the least frequently drawn Powerball number is 18.
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