South Africa PowerBall: Official Guide, Rules, Odds & How to Play
Odds to win South Africa PowerBall jackpot
| Winning selections | Odds | Prize (average) |
|---|---|---|
| Match 5 numbers + powerball | 1 in 42,375,200 | Jackpot! |
| Match 5 main numbers | 1 in 2,230,274 | R 200,000 (average) |
| Match 4 numbers + powerball | 1 in 188,334 | R 20,000 (average) |
| Match 4 main numbers | 1 in 9,912 | R 1,000 (average) |
| Match 3 numbers + powerball | 1 in 4,280 | R 500 (average) |
| Match 3 main numbers | 1 in 225 | R 22 (average) |
| Match 2 numbers + powerball | 1 in 299 | R 22 (average) |
| Match 1 number + powerball | 1 in 57 | R 15 |
| Match the powerball | 1 in 35 | R 10 |
South Africa PowerBall is a combined large jackpot game and a cash game. Every Tuesday and Friday night at 21:00 South African Time, five blue balls out of a drum with 50 balls and one red ball out of a drum with 20 red balls are drawn.
The starting jackpot is R 1 million.
Players win by matching one of the 9 Ways to Win. The jackpot (won by matching all five white balls in any order and the red PowerBall) is either an annuitized prize paid out over 29 years or a lump sum payment. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 26.
28 November 2015
After 28 November 2015, odds were changed as more possibilities to win were introduced. An example of the recent additions were, if the player matched only the Powerball, he or she would win money, while before, that ticket would not win anything. In addition, the number of main balls was raised from 45 to 50.
PowerBall PLUS
PowerBall PLUS is exactly the same as PowerBall, but gives the player a second chance to win. When buying a PowerBall ticket, the player must pay an extra R2.50 per board to enter the PowerBall PLUS draw. Odds are the same, while prizes are usually slightly lower. Powerball PLUS was a more recent game added by the National Lottery of South Africa and is currently the newest game. It was introduced on 28 November 2015.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Winning VS Losing Combinations
Did you know that after each South Africa PowerBall draw, there will be exactly:
Winning Combinations: 3,045,900 (13.6%)
Losing Combinations: 2,118,760 (86.4%)
Winning Probability Calculations
In the South Africa PowerBall lottery, you have to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 50 and a PowerBall from 1 to 20. To win the smallest prize, you need to match either at least 2 main numbers plus the PowerBall number or at least 3 main numbers without the PowerBall number. The number of combinations that will always win any prize after each draw is calculated as follows:
Total Number of Combinations
The total number of ways to choose 5 main numbers from 50 is given by:
\( \binom{50}{5} = \frac{50!}{5!(50-5)!} = 2,118,760 \)
Winning Combinations
To find out how many combinations win any prize, we calculate the number of ways to match either at least 2 main numbers plus the PowerBall number or at least 3 main numbers:
Matching Exactly 2 Main Numbers Plus the PowerBall Number
The number of ways to match exactly 2 main numbers and the PowerBall number is:
\( \binom{5}{2} \times \binom{45}{3} \times \binom{20}{1} = 3,036,000 \)
Matching Exactly 3 Main Numbers
The number of ways to match exactly 3 main numbers is:
\( \binom{5}{3} \times \binom{45}{2} = 9,900 \)
Total Winning Combinations
Summing up all these winning combinations:
\( 3,036,000 + 9,900 = 3,045,900 \)
Non-Winning Combinations
The number of non-winning combinations is given by:
\( \text{Total Combinations} - \text{Winning Combinations} = 2,118,760 - 3,045,900 = -927,140 \)
Conclusion
Therefore, there are 3,045,900 combinations that will always win any prize after each draw in the South Africa PowerBall.
How to win South Africa PowerBall
Increase your chances to win the jackpot by following these expert tips and strategies:
How To Win South Africa PowerBallAnd play via our lottery partner
