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A change in the Powerball game bringing an extra day per week to game play begins with a first Monday night drawing offering a jackpot of $293 million, according to a press release from the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Beginning this week, the national game adds a third weekly drawing. The Monday night drawing will join the current schedule of Wednesday and Saturday night drawings.

Powerball tickets remain at $2 and the odds of winning any of the nine prizes in each drawing stays the same.

“We would love to see someone from North Carolina win the first Monday night jackpot,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “The chance to win millions on a Monday night just made Mondays a lot more exciting.”

If someone in North Carolina wins Monday’s jackpot, they have the choice of taking their prize as a $293 million annuity or a lump sum of $214.2 million.

The game change is expected to result in larger, faster-growing jackpots, stated the release. Powerball jackpots start at $20 million and increase each drawing until they are won.

Five North Carolina players have won jackpots so far and thousands of North Carolinians win prizes in each drawing, according to NCEL. In Saturday’s drawing, 26,878 Powerball players won prizes, ranging from $4 to $50,000. The most recent big win occurred in July when a Brunswick County longshoreman won a $2 million prize.

All 48 U.S. lotteries involved in the Powerball game will sell tickets for the Monday drawings Just like Wednesday and Saturday, the Monday night drawings will be held at 10:59 p.m.

NCEL listed some additional highlights of the Powerball game, including:

– Every $2 ticket sold raises about 76 cents for education in North Carolina.

– The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

– A $344.6 million jackpot won by a Cumberland County man in June 2019 holds record for the largest lottery prize won so far in North Carolina.

– A $1.58 billion jackpot in January 2016 holds the record as the largest jackpot in U.S. history.

For more information, visit the North Carolina Education Lottery’s website at nclottery.com.

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