Why are lottery jackpots so big now?

Another jackpot is at stake this week: the Powerball will rise to $700 million for Saturday’s draw.

This comes just a month after a Mega Millions ticket worth over $1 billion was sold in Maine. And in November, a Powerball ticket worth more than $2 billion was sold in Altadena.

The I-Team wanted to find out why there are so many huge jackpots being played right now.

“So, there are several reasons why we think higher jackpots are being played more often,” said Carolyn Becker, spokesperson for the California Lottery.

“In 2015 and 2017, respectively, both of the well-known multi-state games, Powerball and Mega Millions, changed what we call the matrix, which is the number of numbers a player has to choose from.”

She says there are now 69 white Powerball numbers to choose from – instead of 59. There is also a different number of red balls.

“So when they changed the matrix, it changed the odds of the game. And it was designed to hit more jackpots,” Becker told the I-Team.

The more numbers to choose from, the harder it is to win the Powerball jackpot. The odds of winning are now 1 in 292 million.

Becker also points to higher jackpots attracting more players who buy more tickets. And the more tickets sold, the higher and higher the jackpots grow.

In addition, Powerball tickets now cost $2 each, increasing the total prize pool of each draw.