When the price of Powerball lottery tickets increases from $1 to $2 on Jan. 15, Chris Taranto says, he’ll still buy them.

So will a lot of other lottery players, he said. And their chances of winning will improve. Lottery checker

“People like to dream in this country,” the Delran, N.J, resident expounded as he bought tickets for the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries at the Hartford Deli on Tuesday. “The only true dream left is the lottery.”

With the price increase, the Powerball jackpot will grow from a minimum of $20 million to $40 million, and that might grow to the many millions if it takes a few weeks to get a winner. Lottery winning numbers
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The current game is designed for a typical jackpot of $141 million, asserts the West Des Moines-based Multistate Lottery Organisation, which runs Powerball. The game jackpot average will grow to $255 million, the association claims.

“When the jackpots begin climbing into the triple-digit millions, the excitement is going to be palpable,” said Carole Hedinger, director of the New Jersey Lottery.

The “enriched Powerball game” will still have players selecting their first five numbers from a pool of 59, but the numbers available for the Powerball itself will drop to 35 from 39. That may raise the likelihood of winning to One in 175 million from One in 192 million.

The second-prize winner will receive $1 million in notes, up from $200,000 now offered.

Half of ticket sales are returned to the states where Powerball is played to help in funding govt. programs. Powerball ticket sales in financial year 2011, the last complete year of record, were $3.1 bill.

Lottery officers believe increasing the price of the game will make it more tasty to players, asserted Terry Rich, association spokesman.

“People like variety,” Rich declared. “We’re repackaging and freshening up the product and enriching the product.”

The move will differentiate the game from Mega Millions, the other serious coin, multi-state lottery game that is sold in 42 states for $1 a ticket. Each game has drawings twice a week but on different nights.

The larger jackpots should attract more players, even at the higher price, declared Clyde Barrow, a gambling expert at the School of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

“As prizes escalate more folk incline to enter the game,” he announced. “The giant draw will be the size of the jackpot. The concept is that at $12 million folks don’t get too thrilled but when it crosses $140 million, more people will play and by accelerating the price level of tickets you may reach that prize level much faster.”

Don Bigley, president of the Ott’s Group, which includes Ott’s Bar in Delran Didn’t assume the price increase for Powerball tickets would deter sales.

“The folk who bet, bet,” Bigley said. “The larger the ( jackpot ) is, the more galvanized people get.”

Not so fast, announced one Iowa gambler.

“With the price of the rest going up, there’s not too much you can get for a greenback anymore,” 28-year-old Ryan Raker of Des Moines told the Associated Press. Raker stated that he gets a ticket once a month. He revealed he’ll likely play less frequently now.