With $80 million up for grabs in Thursday night’s Powerball draw, Australian lottery players may be keen to discover the entry types and numbers that have helped previous Powerball division one winners take home the coveted prize.
This week’s $80 million Powerball draw is only the eighth time in the game’s 25-year history that a jackpot of this size has been up for grabs.
Despite no one taking home the division one prize during the past five draws, there have been 23 Powerball division two winning entries that were just one number off winning the life-changing division one prize.
Australia’s winning Powerball states in FY21
The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart said up to a one-in-four Aussie adults were expected to have an entry in this week’s $80 million Powerball draw.
“This is the equal biggest lottery jackpot we’ve seen in Australia so far this year, so we’re expecting keen interest,” he said.
“If one player takes home the entire $80 million prize, they will not only be the biggest Australian lottery winner so far this year, but they will also share the title of the third biggest lottery winner in Australian history.
“Last financial year, there were 17 Powerball division one winning entries that pocketed more than half a billion dollars in prize money.
“The lion’s share of these wins were by players in New South Wales, with the remainder pocketed by Queenslanders and Victorians.”
Table: The states where the Powerball wins landed in FY21
| State | Powerball division one wins so far in 2020 | Total division one prizemoney |
| New South Wales | 10 | $279,881,625.90 |
| Queensland | 5 | $140,000,000.00 |
| Victoria | 2 | $100,000,000.00 |
| Total | 17 | $519,881,625.90 |
The types of entries that won the Powerball jackpot in FY21
“Of the 17 Powerball division one winning entries last financial year, 13 were secured by QuickPick entries, where the lottery terminal randomly chose the numbers. Only four wins were from a marked entry, where the player marked a coupon with their favourite numbers,” Mr Hart said.
“PowerHit entries, which guarantee the all-important Powerball number, continued their winning form and accounted for more than a third of the FY21 Powerball division one winning entries.
“Interestingly, most of the division one winning entries were relatively small entries, consisting of 36 games or less. It just goes to show, you don’t need a big entry, you just need an entry for the chance to become a Powerball division one winner.”
‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers
Mr Hart said those marking their Powerball entries might consider how they interpret the game’s ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers.
“While Powerball is a game of chance, and every number has an equal chance of being drawn, some numbers have been drawn more often than others,” he shared.
“But will these ‘hot’ numbers make an appearance this week, or is it time for the ‘cold’ numbers to shine?”
From Powerball’s main barrel, where seven winning numbers are drawn from 35, the ‘hot’ number is 17, having been drawn 49 times during the past three years. (Table 1)
Table 1: ‘Hot’ winning numbers from past Powerball draws
| Winning number | 17 | 7 |
| Times drawn | 49 | 43 |
Some numbers have not been drawn as often from the main barrel during the past three years, including the number 34. (Table 2)
Table 2: ‘Cold’ winning numbers from past Powerball draws
| Winning number | 34 | 15 |
| Times drawn | 24 | 25 |
For the separate Powerball barrel, where a single Powerball number between one and 20 is drawn, there are two numbers that have been drawn more than any other during the past three years (Table 3).
Table 3: ‘Hot’ Powerball numbers
| Powerball number | 19 | 3 |
| Times drawn | 16 | 13 |
At the same time, there are three Powerball numbers that have been drawn the least during the past three years. (Table 4).
Table 4: ‘Cold’ Powerball numbers
| Powerball number | 18 | 16 | 8 |
| Times drawn | 4 | 5 | 5 |
The $80 million Powerball draw 1317 will take place on Thursday 12 August 2021.
Tickets can be purchased at any licenced lottery outlet, online from thelott.com or via The Lott mobile app.
The home of Australia’s Official Lotteries, The Lott operates and markets Australia’s leading lottery games customers know and love creating everyday winners, winning every day.
In 2020, more than 111.6 million winners took home more than $3.33 billion in prize money from their favourite games at The Lott, including Saturday Lotto, Monday & Wednesday Lotto, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno, Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.
Last financial year, Australia’s Official Lotteries contributed more than $1.4 billion via state lottery taxes and donations to help community initiatives, such as hospitals, health research, disaster relief and education.