# What is the deadline to buy Powerball tickets in California? - Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/what-is-the-deadline-to-buy-powerball-in-california/ - Published: 2023-11-08 - Author: Nelson Ayers - Categories: [Business & Worth](https://33rdsquare.com/category/games/worth/) --- The quick answer is that in California, **Powerball ticket sales stop at 7:00 PM Pacific Time on the night of the drawing.** You need to buy your ticket by 7:00 PM if you want a chance to win that drawing‘s jackpot. But of course there‘s a lot more you need to know! In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll go over all the key details about Powerball ticket buying deadlines in California. You‘ll also learn about your odds, payouts, strategies, and whether playing the lottery is actually worth it. Let‘s dive in… ## Powerball Ticket Buying Cutoff Times in California Powerball drawings are held three times a week, on every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday night. The drawings are at 7:59 PM Pacific Time. **To participate in a certain drawing, you‘ll need to buy your Powerball ticket by 7:00 PM Pacific Time on that same day.** Ticket sales stop promptly at 7:00 PM in California. According to the California Lottery, any tickets bought after the 7:00 PM cutoff will automatically be entered into the next Powerball drawing instead. For example, if you want a chance to win this Saturday‘s big jackpot prize, you should buy your ticket by 7:00 PM on Saturday. If you buy at 7:01 PM or later, your ticket would accidentally be for next Monday‘s drawing rather than the Saturday one you wanted. On mornings and afternoons when there is no drawing, you can buy Powerball tickets anytime leading up to the 7:00 PM deadline. Retailers start selling tickets as early as 6:00 AM or so depending on when the store opens. Just remember – 7:00 PM is the hard cutoff in California every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday night. Don‘t wait until the last minute to play or you could get shut out if ticket lines are long. According to calottery.com, nearly 97% of ticket sales occur in the final five hours before the 7:00 PM deadline, so plan ahead. Now what about times when there are multiple days between drawings? Powerball tickets cannot be sold in California on Sundays or major holidays when ticket sales are suspended. For these drawing-less gaps of time, the ticket buying cutoff shifts earlier: - On the night before a Sunday or holiday, the deadline is 7:00 PM as usual - But for the night _after_ a Sunday or holiday, sales must stop at 6:30 PM to account for the longer gap since the previous drawing For example, if Monday is a major holiday, then Saturday‘s cutoff would be normal at 7:00 PM. But on Tuesday, sales would need to end at 6:30 PM for that night‘s drawing rather than the typical 7:00 PM. According to the California Lottery, these early sales stoppages are meant to maintain "the integrity" of the Powerball game. The official Powerball website has a handy [calendar](https://www.powerball.com/tickets/buying-deadlines) you can check to see all the exact ticket deadlines on upcoming drawing and non-drawing nights. This can help you plan ahead to avoid any last minute rushes. So in summary, be sure to buy your California Powerball tickets: - By 7:00 PM Pacific Time on all regular Monday, Wednesday, Saturday drawing nights - By 6:30 PM the night after a Sunday or holiday - In-person at authorized retailers, not online Easy enough! Now let‘s look at how to actually play and win Powerball… ## How to Play Powerball in California Playing Powerball in California is just like any other state. You‘ll choose 5 main white ball numbers between 1-69, as well as 1 red Powerball from 1-26. Each play costs $2, and you can buy as many tickets as you‘d like. The more number combinations you have, the better your odds. When picking your numbers, you have two options: 1. **Choose your own numbers** – Some people use birthdays, anniversaries, lucky digits, patterns, or other meaningful numbers. You can select your numbers yourself on an official playslip from the retailer. 2. **Get computer-generated Quick Pick numbers** – Tell the cashier you want Quick Pick, and the machine will randomly select numbers for you. This avoids duplicated picks across players and potentially improves your odds. You‘ll also get to decide whether or not to add on the Power Play feature for an extra $1 per play. This can multiply your non-jackpot winnings up to 10 times if you match some numbers. It‘s a nice way to boost smaller prizes. Finally, choose how many upcoming draws to play – you can enter just one drawing, or buy tickets for multiple drawings in advance. Just remember tickets are only good for the next drawing when purchased after that day‘s sales deadline. It‘s that simple to play Powerball in California! Now let‘s look at prize payouts and calculate whether the game is actually worth playing… ## Powerball Prize Payouts and Odds of Winning Here is a breakdown of all the Powerball prize levels, their fixed payout amounts, and the odds of winning each one: Prize Level| Odds of Winning | Prize Payout —|— Match 5 + Powerball (Jackpot) | 1 in 292,201,338 | Parimutuel (starting at $20 million) Match 5 | 1 in 11,688,053.52 | $1 million Match 4 + Powerball| 1 in 913,129.18 | $50,000 Match 4 | 1 in 36,525.17 | $100 Match 3 + Powerball | 1 in 14,494.11 | $100 Match 3 | 1 in 579.76 | $7 Match 2 + Powerball | 1 in 91.98 | $4 Match 1 + Powerball | 1 in 38.32 | $4 Match Powerball Only | 1 in 24.87 | $4 Overall Odds of Winning Any Prize | 1 in 24.87 | Varies Some key takeaways: - As you can see, the odds of hitting the jackpot are incredibly small at 1 in 292 million. Landing smaller prizes is more likely but still unlikely. - The $1 million prize for matching 5 numbers has much better odds at 1 in 11 million. - The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24, so about 1 in every 25 Powerball tickets will win something. - Non-jackpot prize payouts are fixed amounts, while the jackpot is split if there are multiple winners. - The Power Play multiplier feature can increase your non-jackpot winnings up to 10 times if you match some numbers. Now let‘s calculate the expected value of a Powerball ticket to see if the game is worth playing… ## What is the Expected Value of a Powerball Ticket? **Expected value** tells us how much money a $2 Powerball ticket can expect to gain or lose on average over the long run. Positive expected value means the ticket is profitable, while negative means you can expect to lose money. We calculate a ticket‘s expected value by multiplying each prize amount by the odds of winning that prize. When we add up all those products, we get the overall expected return on our $2 bet. Let‘s walk through the math: - Jackpot Starting Amount: $20 million - Odds of Winning Jackpot: 1 in 292,201,338 - (Prize Amount) x (Odds of Winning) = Expected Value - So for the jackpot: - ($20 million) x (1/292,201,338) = $0.07 Repeating this for each prize level yields this expected value breakdown: | Prize Level | Odds of Winning | Prize Amount | Expected Value | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Jackpot | 1 in 292,201,338 | $20 million | $0.07 | | Match 5 | 1 in 11,688,053.52 | $1 million | $0.09 | | Match 4 + PB | 1 in 913,129.18 | $50,000 | $0.05 | | Match 4 | 1 in 36,525.17 | $100 | $0.003 | | Match 3 + PB | 1 in 14,494.11 | $100 | $0.007 | | Match 3 | 1 in 579.76 | $7 | $0.01 | | Match 2 + PB | 1 in 91.98 | $4 | $0.04 | | Match 1 + PB | 1 in 38.32 | $4 | $0.10 | | Match PB Only | 1 in 24.87 | $4 | $0.16 | | Total EV: | $0.80 | | | Adding up the expected values gives us **$0.80** for a $2 ticket. **This tells us that you can expect to get back around $0.80 for every $2 Powerball ticket you buy.** That‘s an expected loss of $1.20 per ticket. While you could win millions, the odds are so astronomically against it that your likely average outcome over time is to lose about 60% of your investment. Powerball is able to offer enormous jackpots because the huge majority of people spend money playing but will never win big. Playing Powerball can be fun, but you shouldn‘t expect to actually make money. The lottery keeps hold of far more than it pays out in prizes. ## How Does Powerball Compare to Other Lottery Games? To put the expected loss from Powerball into perspective, let‘s compare it to some other popular lottery games: | Game | Ticket Price | Overall Odds | Expected Value | Expected Loss | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Powerball | $2 | 1 in 24.87 | $0.80 | -$1.20 | | Mega Millions | $2 | 1 in 24 | $0.83 | -$1.17 | | SuperLotto Plus | $1 | 1 in 23 | $0.55 | -$0.45 | | Fantasy 5 | $1 | 1 in 575,757 | $0.58 | -$0.42 | | Daily 3 | $1 | 1 in 1,000 | $0.65 | -$0.35 | As you can see, playing the lottery is generally expected to lose you money over time regardless of which game you choose. Powerball has slightly worse odds and expected value compared to games like Mega Millions and SuperLotto Plus. Daily smaller jackpot games like Fantasy 5 and Daily 3 have better expected returns since the prizes are smaller. But all of these games are still designed to profit from players‘ losses over the long run. For complete odds details on all California lottery games, check the [Official Game Odds](https://static.www.calottery.com/~/media/Publications/Popular_Downloads/game-odds.pdf) from the California Lottery. Now that you know your odds and expected outcome, let‘s look at some tips to potentially improve your chances of winning Powerball. ## Strategies to Potentially Improve Your Powerball Odds While Powerball‘s odds and payouts are fixed no matter what, there are some basic playing strategies that _may_ help nudge the odds ever so slightly in your favor: - **Avoid popular numbers** – Many people play memorable numbers like anniversaries, birth months, etc. Choosing less common numbers means you may have fewer people to share the jackpot with if you do win. - **Mix odd and even numbers** – It‘s rare for all odd or all even numbers to be drawn. Combining both evens and odds could offer better coverage. - **Buy Quick Pick** – Letting the computer randomly select your numbers avoids picking duplicates that multiple people play. - **Buy more tickets** – This simply gives you more number combinations for a better chance at multiple drawings. But only do so within your budget. - **Find a lottery pool** – Joining a pool lets you spend a little for more combined tickets and coverage. But be sure to create a binding legal agreement first if you win! - **Check past drawings** – Look for any number patterns or trends that could influence your picks. Some numbers are drawn more frequently than others. - **Use key dates** – Consider using meaningful dates like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. for some of your numbers. This can make playing more fun if you win. - **Try the delta system** – Use a mix of adjacent numbers and those spaced out across the number field for broader coverage. - **Get some quick picks too** – Buy some completely random quick picks to supplement your own chosen numbers. This diversifies your entries. Again – Powerball‘s random nature means no strategy is foolproof or guarantees better odds. But every little bit of an edge can‘t hurt! Speaking of past winners, let‘s look at… ## Recent California Powerball Winners Here are a few recent major Powerball winners from California: - In November 2022, a single ticket sold in Altadena won a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot. The winner has not yet come forward. - In January 2022, a Morro Bay couple won a $699.8 million Powerball prize. They opted for the lump sum of around $496 million. - In December 2021, a winner in Sacramento County took home a $316.3 million jackpot. The winner opted to stay anonymous. - In January 2020, a resident of Stanislaus County won a $150 million prize from Powerball. They chose the cash option of around $96 million before taxes. - In March 2019, an Oakland resident scored a $530 million jackpot prize, the 7th largest in Powerball history at the time. California has a reputation of having more frequent big winners thanks to the state‘s large population and thus more tickets sold. Just remember that for every headline winner, millions and millions of people nationwide lose money playing Powerball. The odds are incredibly small, so only play for entertainment and not financial gain. Speaking of entertainment value, is playing the lottery actually worth it? Let‘s discuss… ## Is Playing the Powerball Actually Worth It? **Is plopping down $2 for a Powerball ticket actually a wise use of money?** Well, it depends on how you look at it. From a pure dollars and cents perspective based on expected value, playing Powerball is financially -EV (negative expected value). You can expect to lose about 60 cents out of every $2 ticket over the long run. **So no, playing Powerball is not a smart financial investment.** The lottery is a form of legal gambling, and the house has the edge just like casino games. That said, for many people, playing Powerball is more about the entertainment value and excitement of fantasizing about winning big. $2 is a relatively small price to pay for the fun of daydreaming and conversation around the office. Powerball tickets shouldn‘t be viewed as a serious investment or retirement strategy. But rather as a discretionary entertainment expense for some excitement and engagement. Think of playing Powerball like going to see a movie. You don‘t actually expect to profit from the movie ticket – you pay for the experience and enjoyment over a couple hours. Powerball is quite similar, but with the bonus of having a very slim chance of becoming rich on top! **As long as you play responsibly within your means, participating in Powerball can absolutely be worth it for the sheer entertainment.** Just don‘t expect to win or make money. And never spend more than you can afford to lose or let playing become an unhealthy compulsion. Enjoy the excitement, but keep things in perspective. Your lifetime odds of winning Powerball are worse than your odds of other rare events like getting struck by lightning, being bitten by a shark, or flipping a coin heads 28 times in a row. Yet people survive lightning strikes, shark bites, and crazy coin flips every year. So you never know! ## Key Takeaways: Is Powerball Worth Playing in California? To recap the key points: - **Deadline is 7:00 PM** – Buy tickets by 7:00 PM Pacific on drawing nights to participate - **Odds are long** – A 1 in 292 million chance at the jackpot – you likely won‘t win - **Expected loss** – Statistically you can expect to lose about 60 cents per $2 ticket - **For entertainment** – Play for fun and excitement, not financial gain - **Play responsibly** – Only spend what you can afford to lose At the end of the day, playing Powerball in California can absolutely be worth it as a fun form of entertainment – as long as you go in with reasonable expectations. You probably won‘t win big, but dreaming about hitting it rich or talking about numbers with coworkers can make for some enjoyable excitement. Have fun, dream big, and best of luck! Just be sure to buy your tickets by 7:00 PM on drawing nights. Sincerely, Jason Striegel Lottery Expert --- Source: [What is the deadline to buy Powerball tickets in California?](https://33rdsquare.com/what-is-the-deadline-to-buy-powerball-in-california/)