Powerball Ticket Prices To Double Along With Jackpot
HUDSON, Wis. (WCCO) -- The price of a Powerball lottery ticket is going to double next year, going from $1 to $2.
So how do Powerball players feel about the change? Well, you have to take a trip to Wisconsin to ask since Minnesota's lottery is shut down.
When the ticket prices increase next January, so do the big Powerball jackpots. They will double as well, beginning at $40 million instead of the current $20 million.
The way numbers are picked will also change slightly, so the chance of winning some kind of prize will go from 1 in 35 now to about 1 in 32 next year.
The Powerball ticket printer at one Holiday Station in Hudson, Wis. is getting a little extra work since the Minnesota government shutdown closed lottery sales on the other side of the river.
"There are bigger amounts coming from Minnesota. I've seen people buying $16 tickets, $30 tickets. We usually get $5 tickets over here. The Wisconsin people usually just buy one or two or five at a time," said Holiday Station worker Jeff Klatt.
Those amounts add up. Since it began in 1992, Powerball has generated about $33 billion in sales. It is played in 42 states, including Wisconsin, where people said they didn't seem to mind the coming increase in ticket prices.
"It seems the jackpots are high enough the way they are but, you know I'll guess I'll continue to buy them if that's where they're gonna go with it," said Travis Fouks of Amery. "It sure would be nice to win the jackpot, but so far I've only gotten about $2 or $3 out of it."
"I can win $10 here and there, but I've donated way more than that over the last, what, 20 years," said Hardy White of River Falls. "If you don't play, you don't win, you know."
So the bottom line is that people will most likely continue to play.
"We have a lot of regulars who come in and buy lottery every day," Klatt said.
The Minnesota lottery, when it is open, contributes about 25 percent of its profits to support things like education, health care and local government aid.
