One in a Million Power

Blue text and an illustration of a shooting star on a white background

"One in a million" is a slogan used by those who play the lottery, a form of gambling that distributes prizes, often large sums of money, among a group of people by chance of those who have drawn the correct numbers from a defined set of numbers. The phrase has been used in many state lottery games in the United States and the star logo can be seen across multiple designs linking them to the lottery system. The grand prize for a lottery winner was often around a million dollars so the phrase one in a million was both to distinguish a player overcoming great odds and also to reinforce a large sum prize money.

There are several variations on the traditional pick six numbers lottery game including pick three, mega millions, and powerball. Powerball is a variation introduced in 1992 where a specific ball, a different color, is pulled and that number may warrant different rewards. The player selects five numbers from 1 to 69 for the white balls, then selects one number from 1 to 26 for the Powerball. There are 9 ways to win the Powerball jackpot. If there are no winners for a given session, the jackpot rolls over to the next contest. In 2021, the Powerball lottery expanded and now includes three days of draws. As of 2021, the odds of winning a prize playing Powerball are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.