South Dakotans will have to double their bet by $1 to play for the Powerball jackpots. US lottery

According to the South Dakota Lottery, starting this coming Sunday, the players in the multi-state lottery game now will have to pay $2 per Powerball ticket and double their investment for the promise of higher jackpots and better odds. Lottery results

Under the new rules, the prizes are higher as the jackpots have increased from $20 million to $40 million, the Match 5 second prize has also jumped from $200,000 to $1 million and the Match 5 second prize with the Power Play option doubles to $2 million. According to the to the South Dakota Lottery, the odds of winning a prize have also improved from 1 in 35 to 1 in 31.8 and the odds of claiming the jackpot have gone from 1 in 195.2 million to 1 in 175.2 million. How? Well, the first five numbers selected are still chosen from a pool of 59 but the pool will drop from 39 to 35.

The extra dollar has not make much of a difference for many players like Ryan Payte, a regular Powerball player, who plans to keep playing the game every week along with others offered by the South Dakota Lottery.

“I’ll keep going; hopefully win big someday,” Payte said.

He plays other games such as Dakota Cash and Hot Lotto more regularly, but enjoys playing Powerball for the larger possible payouts. For him, the extra dollar for even higher payouts is not much. In this particular day Payte did not pick up a Powerball ticket because he always buys it on the day of the drawing, Wednesday and Saturday.

“I buy them on the day,” Payte said. “It’s all quick picks.”

Carolyn Solano, a sales associate at the Loaf ‘N Jug, did not expect the higher price to change regular lottery players’ minds as most of her customers have only asked when the new price is going into effect.

“I don’t think it’s going to make any difference. If they want to play they’re going to play,” said Solano, who sold a $10,000 Mega Millions ticket to a Cheyenne, Wyo., man last month.

The general manager of Don’s Valley Express on North Haines, Fred Solano, is not worried either, though he thinks new players will come in only when the jackpot is huge. He added that the regular players have known the increase was coming.

“They may have a few people drop off of it,” Fred Solano said. “The real shock is going to be to the people that hardly ever play it.”

For him, the impact of the extra dollar and new rules will be more clear six months from now, and people will either decide it’s worth it or they’ll stop playing it.

“It’s just a new lottery game,” he said. “It’s a $2 game.”

Gary Bundy, the assistant store manager of the Loaf ‘N Jug on Mount Rushmore Road, expected customers to pick the $1 games like Mega Millions for the more regular payouts.

“It’s too much money for the jackpots,” Bundy said. “They want smaller jackpots and more winners.”

Time is now to say whether this change will affect the game or not.