A big change coming to the national Powerball game this month will give North Carolinians three chances a week to win a life-changing jackpot.

Beginning Monday, Aug. 23, Powerball will add a Monday night drawing to the current schedule of Wednesday and Saturday nights drawings. Tickets will still remain at $2 and the odds of winning any of the nine prizes in each drawing will stay the same.

“The change creates the possibility of adding millions to someone’s Monday nights,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “We hope North Carolinians enjoy having an extra chance each week to win a jackpot.”

Powerball jackpots start at $20 million and increase each drawing until they are won. The game change is expected to result in larger, faster-growing jackpots. Wednesday’s jackpot is $211 million as an annuity or $153.9 million in cash.

Five North Carolina players have won jackpots so far and North Carolinians regularly win other big prizes. The most recent big win occurred in the July 14 drawing when a Brunswick County longshore man 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.

Some other highlights of the Powerball game include:
• 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.