Powerball is on a roll.
Wednesday's annuity jackpot got to be gigantic — $252 million — by leaving the main rival in the dust.
Both grew for 11 drawings, but the top prize in Mega Millions rose only to $143 million Tuesday night.
When states began selling both lotteries on Jan. 31, observers wondered how they'd fare head to head.
The verdict seems to be in.
Powerball is Coke, Hertz, Muhammad Ali. Mega Millions is Pepsi, Avis, Joe Frazier.
In Pennsylvania, a Powerball state for years, the game has maintained its dominance, outselling at a 4-1 rate since cross-selling began, according to state lottery spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis.
In New Jersey, where Mega Millions long reigned, Powerball has made rapid gains, achieving more than 40 percent of sales in March and February, according to state lottery spokesman Dominic DeMarco.
Count the proceeds from Powerball's Power Play — an extra $1 buys a shot to multiply non-jackpot wins — and the cut is 44 percent.
Powerball's last jackpot — $106 million cash — was even won in Jersey, at a deli north of Newark.
"It's become more Powerball," said Lav Patel, co-owner of Gene's in Morris Plains.
The reasons aren't exactly clear.
Forget about odds or jackpot reputations.
The chances of winning Mega Millions' top prize with a single ticket are infinitesimal: 1 in about 176 million. But Powerball's are worse: 1 in 195 million.
The biggest payout in U.S. history — not counting government bailouts — was the $390 million Mega Millions jackpot hit in March 2007 by two winners, including a Cape May County couple. Each lottery has had four jackpots top $300 million.
Moreover, in actual cash, those Mega Millions jackpots were better deals. The biggest Powerball prize ever, billed as a $356 million annuity, netted a lump sum of $177 million, before taxes, for a set of Nebraska coworkers in 2006. That's about half the annuity amount. The record Mega Millions prize paid $232 million cash — about three-fifths of the annuity.
Basically, Powerball has more of a gap because its annual payouts gradually increase and last for 29 years, compared to Mega Millions' fixed payments for 26 years, Alvanitakis explained.
Pennsylvania directs its proceeds, after expenses, to services for the elderly. New Jersey puts most of its lottery revenue toward higher education.
This delayed payout works to Powerball's advantage, though, because the annuities get the large type and the bigger hype, said business professor Scott Testa of Cabrini College in Radnor.
Powerball added to this edge early last year, when it boosted its starting jackpots to $20 million, topping Mega Millions' minimum $12 million.
"It's probably a pretty good strategy move by Powerball," Testa said.
But a head start doesn't explain all of the momentum.
In early February, when Powerball's annuity rebooted to $20 million, Mega Millions was offering $32 million ($20 million cash) and yet a half-dozen drawings later, Powerball's annuity nudged higher, hitting $114 million vs. $112 million.
Has to be some additional appeal.
One clear edge is the Power Play. Every Powerball jurisdiction has this multiplier option, including all 37 states that now also sell Mega Millions. But players in 10 highly populated double-sales states — including New Jersey and New York — have no such option. They declined to retool and add a similar, Texas-innovated selection called the Megaplier.
While Power Play proceeds don't directly fuel jackpots — they go toward their extra payouts, Alvanitakis said — many multiplier fans have no choice but to favor Powerball.
In addition, a Power Play ticket automatically awards $1 million to anyone who matches all the numbers but the Power Ball. The number drawn as the multiplier doesn't matter. The Megaplier can award $1 million only when it comes up 4.
But Testa suspects the best explanation for Powerball's apparent preeminence is much simpler:
"It's a better name. It has better brand recognition. More people recognize what it is," the professor said.
So just as people go into stores and ask for Kleenex or Windex when other brands will do, lottery players tend to think and say Powerball, he said.
"The name Powerball seems to resonate better with lottery players."
"When you're talking about gambling, you're talking about dreams and emotion, and logic usually doesn't come into play, believe it or not," Testa said.
"If you really were thinking logically, you wouldn't gamble, because you know the odds are against you."
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I'll take the "loser" jackpot happily! :-)
But don't forget to compare the cash values too.
PB tends to bloat the annuity value, when most people will take the cash value.
And PB has harder odds too.
So I'll buy both...
MarkP
like i care...i dont think anybody cares...AS LONG AS THEY WIN THEM...Anyway a Pick3 or Pick4 Exchange for regular people beats the crap out of both of them...
I am from Pa and I play both MM and PB. They are the only games that I play. I don't have enough money to play daily numbers every day.
Come on PB ...... I need a win ! MM too !
Well, I always thought the name Mega Millions had more flair than Powerball, but maybe the fact that you automatically can possibly get 1 million dollars at the second prize level with PP, makes it more attractive. Also, I think that MegaMillion drawings for some reason seem more fair, at least the machine that makes the drawing seems more free of devices that might make it otherwise seem rigged. Maybe its just a perception, but anyhow, I hope to see a 300M+ jackpot tomorrow!!! Who's with me?
I will settle for +/-$91,275,000 to be wired to my checking account after tonight's drawing.
$300 million would be OK too, but I could maybe make ends meet with a win tonight.
I hope that only one person wins either way, because it makes certain people wrinkle up their noses in not so righteous indignation!
They can publish my name and where I live currently ... but they only thing that will be here is some old furniture and some NO TRESPASSING signs!
I will retain a CPA, but I don't need a financial planner. I have learned well from my late father, who left a very nice estate from a modest income.
I would post some of my purchases here, so that the experts can speculate on how long it will take me to go bankrupt .... all the while depositing checks from my investments.
My main hobby would be helping young people and those that I seek out with helpful donations. NO requests for money would be honored or acknowledged !!!!!!
Me tomorrow .... win or lose →
money,money, more money I love it ....
IN NY we have mega lottery and powerball -+sweet millions and the ny lottery game ; its about 40+million -I am not sure .
......almost a billion in play this week......
I always thought the name "BigGame" had a nice sound but I'm sure someone did some research before changing it to "MegaMillions". I'm just happy both games are in Ohio now so I don't have travel out of state to play PB when its jackpot gets big.
Now all I have do is figure out when the terminals switch over for the next drawing. I bought PB tickets Saturday night at 10:15PM for Saturday drawing and I thought I matched 0+1 twice and last night when I tried to cash it in to play MM, I found out the ticket was printed for tonight's drawing instead. Fortunately I save all my losing tickets to the end of the year so the rest of those tickets were easy to find.
The cutoff time in GA is 10pm.
For MM, Ohio switch over after 10:45 PM and I have played at 10:45 after a clerk told me I had up to 10:50.
I don't care which one is higher. I always play them both no matter how high they are and I have tickets for tonights Powerball game.
I'll let one of you guys win the PB tonight or MM Friday...I'll just take the 8.2 mil Ohio Classic Lotto tonight, thanks, lol..
Thanks McCaskey that's a deal! LOL
Anyways Good Luck with whichever jackpot you shoot for..... I think someone could live well off $8 million....... But I have some very BIG DREAMS that require quite a bit of cash. Anyhow if I do win I won't be seeking any attention and leaving for a LONG EXTENDED vacation......Luckily where I'm going I think they have Internet Cafe's so I can check in here at LP.
seeing as pb sold now in ever state lotto but California lottery
it has better overall real estate market then mm at this point in my mind
it may as will be labeled almust as : a national lotto
am just glad both are rolling high,
on that note:, suck it doubters, more players IS Better for large jackpots! more often
,not worst for high jackpots
as for mm, its indeed the better game overall for players
, a biger % of the money per ticket goes to jackpot prize pool
better odds, and overall best cash option ON large jackpots for the winners
if both to be at say 390m, mega millions would in reality be the Bigest cash jackpot in history right now
thanks to PB Jackpot Cap,
even if PB hits it, its cash jackpot, sure would not beat past old record Cash jackpot of MM
sad is it not?
more over MM just needs to set a new record high jackpot,
and all folks eyes be shocked as its Cash Jackpot will be blasting off into the Stratosphere
only thing i change about pb, is its very Stupid jackpot cap, its almust never hit , yes but when it is,
my god are you passing up a chance at even higher sells!
the bottom line is people buy on jackpot level amount
, 2nd place does not Sell tickets, higher 2nd place prize , its a plus,
but not the ticket mover, that large number everyone see's is
so the day we hit the jackpot cap on pb,
i be happy we set new records, but mad at same time ,passed up chance for say:
mm is the only hope for a half a billion buck jackpot let alone 400m jackpot at this point
it take pb getting to 390cap, where it be won for sure, then it take a other record to push it to 415m, cap only goes up to 25m once its been hit, sign
oh will, best of luck to both getting to record highs
i want new records this year!
This story brings a big "duh" from me.... I said it months and months ago that the crossing over would benefit Powerball more than it would MM since Powerball stood to gain access to many states with large populations compared to PB's availability in mostly smaller populated states. Besides that, people are suckers and only look at the annuity amount which is more inflated on the Powerball side and the cash option difference isn't as big. Plus there's the thing where MM has "better" (which isn't saying much) odds..