Florida's entry hurts Powerball chances

The long-shot odds of winning the Powerball are about to get much longer.

Lottery officials insist that's good news.

Here's the deal: In January, Florida will join 31 lotteries throughout the country (and in the U.S. Virgin Islands) that participate in Powerball, a twice-weekly drawing of five white balls and one red ball that features huge jackpots.

With Florida and its 18 million residents coming on board, Powerball officials decided to lower the odds of hitting the jackpot by adding more balls to be drawn. That means the chances of hitting the jackpot will rise from 1 in 146 million to 1 in 195 million.

But the odds of winning smaller amounts will improve, and the jackpots will start larger -- the minimum will be $20 million instead of $15 million. And because more players will be buying tickets, jackpots should grow faster when no one wins.

"It grows bigger, faster," said Alice Garland, a spokeswoman for North Carolina's lottery.

Big jackpots drive Powerball sales, and tweaking the odds will help ensure more frenzies for jackpots of $100 million, $200 million and even $300 million. In selling dreams, buzz is the game, said Charles Clotfelter, a Duke University public policy and economics professor who co-wrote a book about the lottery business. Big prizes bring big buzz.

"They've got some very smart people working on this," Clotfelter said.

Powerball primer: How the changes affect gamblers

HOW IT WORKS

For the uninitiated, Powerball players buy a $1 ticket and select five numbers listed on white balls drawn from one pot and one Powerball number listed on red balls drawn from a separate pot.

WHAT'S CHANGING

Previously, players picked five white balls from a pool of 55. In January that will change to five white balls from a pool of 59. The number of red balls to choose from will decrease from 42 to 39.

Fewer red balls means better chances of winning the lowest prize in the drawing: $3 for matching the red ball. More white balls mean the chances of hitting the jackpot go from 1-in-146 million to 1-in-195 million.

SECOND PRIZE

Another big change for players deals with winning the second prize. Matching five white balls but not the red ball wins $200,000. That prize, like all besides the jackpot, can be increased if the player plunks down another buck to buy a prize multiplier that increases the payout anywhere from two to five times (the multiplier is randomly selected during the drawing).

Starting in January, anyone who buys the multiplier and matches all five white balls will automatically win $1 million, regardless of the multiplier. Since May 2006, 133 tickets bought in North Carolina have matched all five white balls, officials say.

FOR THE HOLIDAYS

State officials are not planning to hold a raffle as they did last holiday season. But they have launched three holiday-themed scratch-off tickets, such as "Bah Humbucks" and "Jingle Big Ol' Bucks," which are already selling briskly, a lottery spokeswoman said.

FOR MORE INFO

For more details on the state lottery's games, visit www.nceducationlottery.org.