Of course, you would be happy to win any old lottery. But if you are the kind of person who only buys a couple lottery tickets a week, you want to know that you’re putting your money where it has the best chance of making the most money. That’s why this article is out to settle the debate, choosing America’s two biggest lotteries and pitting them against each other in a battle royale for the title of the ultimate lottery. Both games are absolutely worth your time and money, but if you want to choose your best possible ticket, read on to find out how they compare in the areas of gameplay, odds of winning and jackpot size.
Gameplay:
Both games are fairly straightforward, and they both utilize a “two drum” approach – that is, they draw from two drums, one with more balls than the other. In the case of Mega Millions, you choose five balls from between 1-70 and a single Mega Ball from between 1-25. In the case of Powerball, you choose five balls from between 1-69 and a single ball from between 1-26. As you can see, they are pretty similar games!
They also both offer an option whereby a player can multiply their potential winnings, by a factor determined in a separate draw. In Mega Millions, this is called the Megaplier, and in Powerball, it’s called PowerPlay. With both lotteries, buying tickets is a cinch: you can easily buy your mega millions of tickets online and the same goes for Powerball. All in all, this is a tough category to call.
Odds Of Winning:
Here is where the lines in the sand can be drawn, although it is still arguable which lottery has the better odds. While you have better odds of winning the Powerball jackpot (by a small margin) than the Mega Millions jackpot, you have a greater chance of winning many of the sub-jackpot prizes in the Mega Millions, including the million-dollar payout for having five numbers but no Mega Ball. So it really all depends on your playing style: do you want to go for the (slightly) better bet for winning it all, or a better bet of winning multiple smaller prizes. As with the last category, this one is a coin toss, but, in a pinch, it would have to be awarded to Mega Millions.
Size Of Jackpots:
Although both lotteries frequently advertise humongous jackpots, often in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Powerball has historically had bigger jackpots. They both have a minimum advertised jackpot of $40 million (Which, in itself, is a huge sum!), but Powerball is the only one of the two whose jackpot has ventured beyond the billion-dollar mark. The point here has to go to Powerball, although not by much.
As you can tell, it’s a very close call, and ultimately, the choice depends on whether you want a slightly better chance at a slightly bigger jackpot or a better chance at the smaller sums. Ultimately, it’s great that both lotteries exist; in the battle royale between Powerball and Mega Millions, it turns out the only real winner is you, the player.
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