One in four Aussies buy tickets for $80m Thursday lotto

An estimated 4000 new tickets are going to be purchased every minute in the lead up to the lottery draw.

The Thursday night Powerball has a whopping $80 million prize on offer – Australia’s biggest lottery prize of 2022 so far.

It’s such an appealing number that an estimated one in four Aussie adults are expected to buy tickets in time for the draw.

Should one person take home the mammoth prize, they’ll not only be Powerball’s second division one winner of the year but also share the title of Australia’s third-biggest lottery winner ever.

In previous $80 million Powerball draws, ticket sales have peaked just after 5pm on the day of the draw, with more than 4000 tickets selling each minute.

But the chances of winning are still pretty slim.

There’s a one in 134 million chance of a single ticket winning the $80 million jackpot.

This is the equal third biggest prize on offer in Australian history.

Dr Stephen Woodcock, senior lecturer in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at UTS, previously told news.com.au the odds were not in your favour for an $80 million prize.

You’re more likely to be able to select two random Aussies and find both have been bitten by a snake in last year – an occurrence with a one in 62 million chance – than win the lottery, according to Dr Woodcock.

For women, you’re more likely to become pregnant with quintuplets, which comes with a one in 55 million chance, while finding two wild oysters both of which contain pearls would be a one in one million chance.

Dr Woodcock explained that for the initial seven balls, ticket holders have:

– a seven in 35 chance of matching the first ball drawn, then

– a six in 34 chance of getting the second, then

– a five in 33 chance of getting the third, then

– a four in 32 chance of matching the fourth, then

– a three in 31 chance of matching the fifth, then

– a two in 30 chance of matching the sixth, then

– a one in 29 chance of matching the first number

Even if you’re one of the lucky few to match these seven numbers, 95 per cent of punters usually fall at the last hurdle, as there’s only a one in 20 chance of your Powerball number being drawn, he said.

There’s a one in 134 million chance of winning.

Crunching the data on the game’s big winners during the past five years, The Lott has found out the trends surrounding lottery winners over the past five years.

Between 2017 and 2021, there were 76 Powerball division one wins across Australia that collected more than $2.21 billion.

People with the initial of D have won more than 10 per cent of the Powerball division one prizes during the past five years, followed by people with the initial of B 8.2 per cent.

Men had the most good fortune in Powerball, taking home more than two-thirds of the individual division one wins.

People in their 60s have won more than a quarter (26.1 per cent) of Powerball’s major prizes during the past five years, followed by people in their 50s (21.4 per cent). People in their 20s, 30s and 40s have had an equal number of wins during this time (11.9 per cent).