You’ve gotta be in it to win it, and for the first time, Aussies can.
WANT to be a billionaire?
Sorry, that’s a ridiculous question.
Rather, want to know how you can dramatically improve your chances of becoming a billionaire, today?
With sorry scenes of desperate US punters lining up in the cold outside news agencies and liquor stores to buy lottery tickets clogging news feeds and bulletins, you’ve no doubt heard about the record breaking Powerball jackpot that’s due to be drawn in Texas in just a few hours time.
The good news is, Aussies can enter the $US1.5 billion ($2.15 billion) draw too. Even better we don’t have to queue up beside a bunch of cash-hungry Americans.
Here’s everything you need to know.
How do I enter the Powerball draw?
As long as you have an internet connection and a bit of patience, any Australian resident (bar South Australians, sorry) can enter the world record jackpot online.
Australian lottery site Lottoland has landed a five-year licence to open online gambling in international lotteries, meaning Aussies can for the first participate in America’s supersized jackpots.
The Powerball rules state that technically you need to be a USA resident and buy your tickets from an official retail outlet. The twist is Australian participants are actually betting on the result of the official draw, but Lottoland assures “the winnings will be the same as if you have entered it for real”.
The change, introduced on Christmas Eve, comes just in time for today’s world record draw which has easily surpassed all other lotteries to become the largest such prize in the world.
Huge volumes of traffic — a direct response to the jackpot — are taking a toll on the site though. After more than 107,000 Aussies entered, the site crashed for the first time on Wednesday afternoon and has been experiencing “technical difficulties” today.
Lottoland has responded to customer complaints on Twitter, with one customer told “we are working hard on this and I trust it will come back before (the draw)”
The chances of getting tickets of course depend on whether you can get on to continuously crashing website.Source:Supplied
What would the takings be?
After 20 draws with no winner, today’s jackpot is set at $US1.5 billion, which for us is around $2.15 billion.
Lottoland has explained an Australian winner would be charged tax as an American citizen would, making the winnings closer to $1.5 billion.
“If you were to win $1.3b in the US you would receive $880 million after tax,” he told Yahoo, which would be equivalent to around $1.2 billion AUD.
That’s not a bad payout for a $10 investment, which is how much Lottoland is charging for an entry. Though US participants will pay only $2 for an entry.
When will it be drawn?
Powerball is drawn at 10.59pm Wednesday, EST. In Australian time, that’s today 2.59pm EST.
To be in the draw, you have to get your entry in by 2pm EST. You should be able to watch the draw here.
If you do win, you’ll be notified by email.
What are the odds?
The chances of winning today’s draw are sitting at 1 in 292.2 million.
Kelly Cripe of the Texas Lottery Commission told the New York Post players across the country have already bought 85.8 per cent of the 292 million possible number combinations.
Roughly 95 per cent of US Powerball tickets are computer-generated quick picks, so people’s favourite numbers aren’t really a factor. Officials don’t track which numbers are most popular because so many are randomly generated.
What if no one wins?
The jackpot started at $US40 million on November 7, 2015, and is the result of 20 drawings with no jackpot winner.
Record ticket sales mean the chances of a winner being drawn today have soared.
But, if there’s no winner today, the prize would soar on Saturday to at least $US2 billion ($2.87 billion) with a cash value of $US1.24 billion ($1.78 billion).
Then the fun would start all over again.
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