Powerball Lottery

Powerball is one of the biggest and most exciting lottery games available to New York residents. It regularly offers some of the largest prizes in the world and in November 2022 the jackpot reached an incredible $2.04 billion.

Powerball draws take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 22:59 EST. Ticket sales close at 22:00 EST on the night of each draw, reopening again after the winning numbers have been revealed. The Powerball results page is updated with the latest numbers straight after each draw has taken place.

How to Play Powerball

To enter Powerball, you must pick five main numbers between 1 and 69 and one Powerball number between 1 and 26. It costs $2 to buy one line, and you can either pick your own numbers or ask for a Quick Pick ticket which randomly generates a line for you. You must be at least 18 years of age to play Powerball in New York.

Power Play

You can opt to take part in the Power Play, for an extra $1 per line, which could double, triple, quadruple, quintuple or even decuple (10x) your lower-tier prizes ($50,000 or less) and double the Match-5 prize to $2 million.

Note, the 10x Power Play multiplier is only available when the jackpot is $150 million or less, and the biggest Power Play prize available is capped at $2 million.

  1. Visit Retailer Visit an official Powerball retailer
  2. Play type Pick five main numbers and one Powerball number, or ask for a Quick Pick ticket
  3. Number of Draws Choose how many consecutive draws you would like to enter
  4. Powerplay Decide whether you want to add Power Play for an additional $1 per line
  5. Ticket Store your ticket in a safe place until the draw
  6. Check Results Check the results page to find out if you are a winner

Powerball Prizes

You win the jackpot by matching all five main numbers and the Powerball. There is a guaranteed minimum jackpot worth $20 million, and prizes start from matching just the Powerball number.

There are nine different prize tiers available in the main draw, and a further eight when you include Power Play. There is no jackpot cap in place, so the top prize can continue to roll over until it has been won.

You have one year from the date of the draw to claim your prize.

Prizes worth up to and including $600 can usually be claimed from an authorized ticket retailer, but you should double check with your store first. You can visit one of the Lottery Claim Centers to claim your prize if it is worth $601 or more. Jackpot winners should contact official lottery representatives as soon as possible.

Bigger Powerball prizes, including the jackpot, are subject to federal taxes in New York, and may also incur state taxes. You should speak to a tax professional to get some advice if you win a prize.

Odds of Winning

The overall odds of a winning a Powerball prize are 1 in 24.87, and your chances of winning in each of the individual prize tiers, to the nearest integer, are shown below:

Powerball Odds of Winning
Match Prize Odds
Match 5 + Powerball Jackpot 1 in 292,201,338
Match 5 $1 million 1 in 11,688,054
Match 4 + Powerball $50,000 1 in 913,129
Match 4 $100 1 in 36,525
Match 3 + Powerball $100 1 in 14,494
Match 3 $7 1 in 580
Match 2 + Powerball $7 1 in 701
Match 1 + Powerball $4 1 in 92
Match 0 + Powerball $4 1 in 38
Power Play Odds

The odds of each Power Play option occurring are shown below. Remember, the 10x multiplier can only occur when the jackpot is under $150 million.

Power Play odds
Power Play Multiplier Odds when 10x is available Odds when 10x not available
Match 10x 1 in 43 N/A
Match 5x 1 in 21.5 1 in 21
Match 4x 1 in 14.33 1 in 14
Match 3x 1 in 3.31 1 in 3.23
Match 2x 1 in 1.79 1 in 1.75

These are the estimated payouts available for ticket holders who have entered Power Play:

Power Play prizes
Match Power Play x2 Power Play x3 Power Play x4 Power Play x5 Power Play x10
Match 5 and Powerball Jackpot Jackpot Jackpot Jackpot Jackpot
Match 5 $2 million $2 million $2 million $2 million $2 million
Match 4 + Powerball $100,000 $150,000 $200,00 $250,000 $500,000
Match 3 + Powerball or Match 4 $200 $300 $400 $500 $1,000
Match 2 + Powerball or Match 3 $14 $21 $28 $35 $70
Match 0 + Powerball or Match 1 + Powerball $8 $12 $16 $20 $40

New York Powerball Winners

New York has been the scene of many jackpot wins since the Empire State joined Powerball in 2010. There was a particularly lucky spell in 2018 when three big payouts were awarded in the space of a few months. Nandlall Mangal of Staten Island and David Johnson from Brooklyn both landed wins of more than $200 million, but the biggest win of the lot went to Robert Bailey. He split a $687 million jackpot with a player from Iowa, having played the same numbers for 25 years. Bailey, a retired government official, said he would use the money to give back to Manhattan.

The table below shows the five biggest Powerball jackpots to have been won in New York.

Biggest Powerball Winners
Prize Winner Date
$343 million Robert Bailey October 27th, 2018
$298 million David Johnson December 26th, 2018
$245 million Nandlall Mangal August 11th, 2018
$201 million 1937 Flatbrush Avenue Dodgers LLC June 1st, 2011
$148 million Healthy Rainbow, LLC August 17th, 2019