Every year, the average American spends around $1,000 on lottery tickets. Doing some quick math will tell you that equates to just under $2.75 spent daily on lottery tickets — that’s roughly the price of a single cup of coffee every two days. You might think that’s a reasonable amount to spend on lottery tickets. After all, winning the lottery once will set you up for life.
However, you have to consider that only some people play the lottery. For every non-player in the U.S, there must be someone spending more than $5 a day on tickets. You can see how quickly that adds up throughout the year.
Unfortunately for these players, the vast majority aren’t going to win very much. They may win the occasional non-jackpot prize here and there, but only a handful of people each year will win the jackpot.
Despite these odds, millions of people will play the lottery every day. Prizes are frequently reaching ten figures these days, and it’s just too much to pass up. Some view this as a national gambling problem or a boon for government coffers and lottery retailers.
However, here at Yotta, we tap into the popularity of lottery games to offer a safe way of earning on what you save.
When Are Lottery Numbers Drawn?
Depending on what lottery you play, you’ll have different odds and drawing times. Some lotteries are easier to win than others, and some have multiple drawings throughout the day.
It would take a long time to talk about the details of the various state lotteries you can play. Instead, let’s focus on the three lotteries that are available nationwide:
Powerball
Powerball drawings occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights at 10:59 PM sharp. A total of six numbers will get drawn each time. Five numbers will come in white balls ranging from 1 to 69, and one number will be a red “Powerball” ranging from 1 to 26.
Each Powerball ticket costs $2, and you’ll have the option to add the “Power Play” bonus for an extra $1.
By doing so, you can multiply the prize that you win by two times (1 in 1.79 chance), three times (1 in 3.31 chance), four times (1 in 14.33 chance), five times (1 in 21.5 chance), and ten times (1 in 43 chance).
The Power Play gets randomly drawn before the winning numbers on draw days. The 10x multiplier only applies when the estimated jackpot is less than $150 million. Also, the second-highest prize tier only doubles, regardless of the Power Play multiplier.
The Powerball jackpot starts at $20 million. Each time a drawing takes place without a winner, the leftover money gets added to the next drawing's jackpot. The current record for a Powerball jackpot is $2.04 billion, which occurred in California in November 2022.
Mega Millions
Mega Millions drawings occur on Tuesday and Friday nights at 11 PM. A total of six numbers will get drawn each time. Five numbers will come in the form of white balls ranging from 1 to 70, and one number will be a golden “Mega Ball” ranging from 1 to 25.
Each Mega Millions ticket will cost $2, and you’ll have the option to add the “Megaplier” bonus for an extra $1. By doing so, you can multiply the top prize that you win by two times (1 in 3 chance), three times (1 in 2.5 chance), four times (1 in 5 chance), and five times (1 in 15 chance).
The Megaplier gets randomly drawn before the winning numbers on the draw dates. The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $20 million. Each time a drawing takes place without a winner, the leftover money gets added to the next drawing's jackpot. The current record for a Mega Millions jackpot is $1.537 billion, which occurred in South Carolina in October 2018.
Some states provide the opportunity to play “Just the Jackpot” at a discounted entry rate. Two entries into this mode would only cost $3 instead of $4.
However, doing so would mean there’s no chance to win prizes other than the jackpot. Hitting five numbers without the Mega Ball on a 5x Megaplier would win you nothing.
These are the states that currently offer this game mode:
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Yotta
Yotta used to hold weekly drawings that ran from Monday to Sunday. These drawings became daily events starting on December 12, 2022. Each live drawing occurs at 9 PM EST with five winning numbers and one YottaBall. Both types feature numbers ranging from 1 to 99.
There is no entry fee for entering these drawings. Instead, you can earn tickets based on the amount of money in your account.
You’ll receive one ticket for every $25 in your account up to $10,000. Any amount over that will receive one ticket for every $150. You can also earn one ticket for every $10 you spend using your Yotta Debit Card.
These are the odds and payouts for each Yotta Daily Drawing scenario:
- Two numbers without the YottaBall: 1 in 54 odds with payouts of two cents per ticket
- Just the YottaBall: 1 in 129 odds with payouts of three cents per ticket
- One number and the YottaBall: 1 in 464 odds with payouts of ten cents per ticket
- Three numbers without the YottaBall: 1 in 1,653 odds with payouts of 20 cents per ticket
- Two numbers and the YottaBall: 1 in 5,282 odds with payouts of 75 cents per ticket
- Four numbers without the YottaBall: 1 in 153,729 odds with payouts of $1,000
- Three numbers and the YottaBall: 1 in 161,995 odds with payouts of $20 per ticket
- Four numbers and the YottaBall: 1 in 15,065,513 odds with payouts of $2,000
- All five numbers without the YottaBall: 1 in 72,252,972 odds with payouts of $20,000
- All five numbers and the YottaBall: 1 in 7,080,791,256 odds with payouts of $1 million
The weekly drawings featured a different prize tier with a $10 million jackpot and Tesla Model 3s as potential prizes.
No one could claim the $10 million prize, but several people won brand-new Teslas. The highest recorded prize was $500,000, which occurred in Georgia in September 2022.
The More You Play, the Better Your Odds
The lottery is a type of gambling, unlike all the rest. No one has ever won more than a billion dollars playing blackjack, craps, roulette, slots, or betting on sports. The allure of such a prize is why millions of Americans play the lottery daily.
Of course, the number of winners is statistically low; even when considering draw games and mobile apps, the overall odds of winning a substantial jackpot amount based on past drawings is minuscule.
There are only two days in the week when neither national lottery has a drawing. Plenty of people spend their hard-earned money buying tickets for these drawings. While that’s one way to play the lottery, it might not be the best.
The odds of winning the lottery are astronomically low. It’s statistically more likely that you’ll be struck by lightning or bitten by a shark. With Yotta, the odds are about the same, except it’s free-to-play.
There’s no possible scenario where you lose. It’s only a question of how much you win. Even if you have terrible luck one day, your account balance will be the same tomorrow. You can try your luck again and see if you can hit the million-dollar jackpot.
You have two options — you can spend the yearly average of $1,000 playing the two national lotteries a few times a week, where you’re practically guaranteed to lose. Or you can spend $0 playing the Yotta sweepstakes daily, where it’s impossible to lose.
The decision should be crystal clear. Visit Yotta today to open an account and make your first deposit.
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