With $80 million up for grabs in tomorrow night’s Powerball draw, Australian lottery players may be keen to discover the entry types and numbers that have helped previous Powerball winners take home the coveted prize.
This week’s $80 million Powerball draw is only the sixth time in the game’s 24-year history that a jackpot of this size has been up for grabs and the first time in 2020.
Despite no one taking home the division one prize during the past six weeks, there have been 27 Powerball division two winning entries that were just one number off winning the life-changing division one prize.
Australia’s winning Powerball states
The Lott spokesperson Lauren Cooney said up to a third of Aussie adults were expected to have an entry in this week’s $80 million Powerball draw.
“We’re standing by ready to crown the second Powerball division one winner of 2020,” she said.
“Last year, there were 14 Powerball division one winners who pocketed more than $541 million in prize money.
“These wins were spread across Australia with New South Wales enjoying five, Queensland four, Victoria three and South Australia two.
“Who knows where our next Powerball division one win will land. Perhaps we’ll find out tomorrow night!”
Table: The states where the Powerball wins landed in 2019
| State | 2019 Powerball division one wins | Total division one prize money |
| New South Wales | 5 | $226,242,315.75 |
| Queensland | 4 | $164,297,756.97 |
| Victoria | 3 | $74,666,666.67 |
| South Australia | 2 | $76,666,666.67 |
| Total | 14 | $541,873,406.06 |
The types of entries that win Powerball
“Of the 14 Powerball division one wins last year, eight were secured by QuickPick entries, where the lottery terminal randomly chose the numbers. The remaining six wins came from marked entries, where people completed a coupon with their favourite numbers,” Ms Cooney said.
“Interestingly, the 2019 Powerball division one winning entries were relatively small entries, with all but two consisting of 25 games or less.
“Almost a quarter of the winning entries were PowerHit entries, a special kind of entry unique to Powerball that guarantees the all-important Powerball number that you need to win division one.”
‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers
Ms Cooney said those marking their Powerball entries might consider how they interpret the game’s ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers.
“While Powerball is a random game of chance, and every number has an equal chance of being drawn, there are some numbers we have seen drawn out of the barrel more often than others,” she said.
“Players interested in trying their hand at choosing their numbers may mark ‘hot’ numbers in the hope they live up to their reputation of being drawn more often.
“Or would they choose to use ‘cold’ numbers in the belief their turn to be drawn is just around the corner?
“We’ve even had previous winners tell us they avoid both sets of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers, instead picking those numbers that aren’t getting any attention.”
For the main barrel, where seven winning numbers are drawn from 35, the ‘hot’ number is 17, having been drawn 28 times during the past two years. (Table 1)
Table 1: ‘Hot’ winning numbers from past Powerball draws
| Winning numbers | 17 | 11 |
| Times drawn | 28 | 27 |
There are several numbers that have not been drawn as often from the main barrel during the past two years, including the number 12. (Table 2)
Table 2: ‘Cold’ winning numbers from past Powerball draws
| Winning numbers | 12 | 15 |
| Times drawn | 13 | 13 |
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 two years (Table 3).
Table 3: ‘Hot’ Powerball numbers
| Powerball numbers | 3 | 19 |
| Times drawn | 9 | 9 |
At the same time, there are two Powerball numbers that have been drawn the least during the past two years. (Table 4).
Table 4: ‘Cold’ Powerball numbers
| Powerball numbers | 1 | 18 |
| Times drawn | 2 | 2 |
Powerball draw 1245 closes at 7:30pm AEST on Thursday 26 March 2020.
Tickets can be purchased at any licensed lottery outlet, online from thelott.com or via the Lott mobile app.
The Lott’s division one winning tally across all Australian lottery games has now reached 270 so far this financial year.
In 2019, the biggest individual Powerball prize was $107,575,649.08, which was won by a Sydney healthcare worker on 17 January 2019. Her windfall set a new record for Australia’s biggest individual lottery winner. Last year, Powerball also offered a $150 million jackpot, the largest ever offered by an Australian lottery game, which was shared by three division one winners.
Last financial year, more than 131.8 million winners took home more than $3.3 billion in prize money from their favourite games at the Lott, including TattsLotto, Monday and Wednesday Lotto, Powerball, Oz Lotto, Set for Life, Lucky Lotteries, Keno, Super 66, Lotto Strike and Instant Scratch-Its.
In the 12 months to 30 June 2019, 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.