News » Top Stories

Price to Play Powerball Increases

By WEEK Reporter
January 15, 2012 Updated Jan 16, 2012 at 12:12 AM CDT

EAST PEORIA, Ill.-- The price to play a popular Illinois Lotto game went up 100 percent on Sunday. But the potential payoff went up 500 percent.

Powerball tickets now cost two dollars to play instead of one dollar.

According to the Illinois Lottery, the price hike will create more millionaires by offering more prizes, starting each jackpot at $40 million.

However, not every Lotto player says the new cost is worth the gamble.

"You know, the ones who truly play it every week religiously, they're going to say the state is getting more money out of me. It's like everything else, like taxes, people get tired of paying more money. That's just how it is," said Clint Reed.

According to Illinois Lotto, there were 24 second place winners in 2011. With the new price of the game, second place goes from $200,000 to $2 million.

To submit a comment on this article, your email address is required. We respect your privacy and your email will not be visible to others nor will it be added to any email lists.