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Politics & Government

Lottery: Powerball Sales Up 20% Since Switch To $2 Ticket

The price change happened in January.

When changes were made to the Powerball lottery a couple weeks ago, officials were banking on the fact that the larger prizes would outweigh the increased price in the eyes of ticket buyers.

And so far at least, it looks like they were right.

"While it's still early with the game enhancement that went into effect on Jan. 15, Minnesota has seen very positive sales results since the change has been made," said Jenny Canfield, acting director of the Minnesota State Lottery. "The most recent same-day, same-jackpot size comparison shows that sales are up over 20 percent."

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Before the change, tickets cost $1 each. The prize for matching all five white balls, but not the red ball, was $200,000; the prize for matching just the red "powerball" was $3.

Now tickets are $2. Matching the five white balls gets you $1 million, and matching just the red ball is good for $4.

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The number of red balls in the tumbler was also reduced from 39 to 35, which means the odds of winning the jackpot have improved from 1 in 195 million to 1 in 175 million.

But it seems like the buying habits of many Powerball "regulars" are unchanged since the switch, said Caleb Albrecht, the manager at the Marathon gas station near 150th Street West and Galaxie Avenue in Apple Valley.

Albrecht said he sees many of the same people come in often for lottery tickets; some have complained about the price increase, he said, but they've still bought the tickets just the same.

He said people might be continuing to buy because the Powerball jackpot has been so high; for Saturday's drawing, the jackpot was $325 million.

In addition to Powerball tickets, Minnesotans can buy $1 tickets for Gopher 5—a Minnesota exclusive—and $1 tickets for Mega Millions, the other multi-state lottery in which Minnesota participates.

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