How Much Does a Powerball Xs & Os Ticket Cost?

Published on September 7, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 14 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

A Powerball Xs & Os ticket costs $5 per play for one weekly drawing. Powerball has scheduled ticket sales to begin September 8, 2026, with the first drawing on September 13 at 10 p.m. ET. The game uses NFL team logos rather than the number format used by standard Powerball. The Powerball launch notice confirms the price, sales date, drawing schedule and NFL partnership.

The payable amount can rise far above $5 when a player buys several drawings or creates multiple eight-team combinations. One North Carolina feature can turn a single drawing into a $45, $225 or $825 purchase depending on how many teams are selected. Those larger totals are separate plays rather than a higher national ticket price.

Article Highlights

• One Powerball Xs & Os play costs $5.
• The jackpot starts at $1 million (at $30 per hour, earning that amount would take about 16 years of full-time work, before taxes).
• Listed non-jackpot prizes run from $7 to $20,000.
• A North Carolina 11-team Combo creates 165 plays costing $825 for one drawing.
• Powerball Xs & Os launches in 24 U.S. lottery jurisdictions.
• The game has one drawing each Sunday throughout the year.

How Much Does a Powerball Xs & Os Ticket Cost?

The national billing unit is one play in one drawing. Buying more drawing dates repeats that charge. Maryland lets a player put the same team selection into as many as 10 consecutive drawings, and its Xs & Os purchase rules state that each drawing costs $5. One drawing is $5, five consecutive drawings are $25 (about 50 minutes at $30 per hour), and 10 consecutive drawings are $50. Maryland also states that a processed Xs & Os ticket cannot be canceled or voided.

Advance-purchase limits are not identical everywhere. Maine permits play up to 13 weeks ahead, according to its current Xs & Os rules. Using one eight-team play for every permitted week would produce a $65 ticket. The player still owns 13 separate $5 drawing entries rather than one premium ticket. This is why the number beside a terminal or online cart can be much larger than the advertised unit price. The game price stays fixed while the selected quantity changes. A buyer should check the number of plays and drawings before the transaction is processed, especially in jurisdictions where cancellation is prohibited.

What One Play Buys

Powerball Xs & Os is a separate multi-state draw game built around the 32 NFL team logos. A player chooses eight different teams or lets Quick Pick make some or all of the selections. Eight team logos are then drawn at random each Sunday. Matching four or more produces a listed cash prize, while matching all eight wins the rolling jackpot. The actual results of NFL games do not affect which logos are drawn.

The games are separate. A regular Powerball purchase is not required to enter Xs & Os, according to the Hoosier Lottery game FAQ. That distinction prevents a common pricing mistake. Someone buying only Xs & Os is paying for the Xs & Os play, not a standard Powerball line plus an NFL add-on. The team logos are simply the selection mechanism for this lottery. Picking a stronger NFL team does not improve the lottery probability because the Sunday logo drawing is independent of football scores, standings and game results. The game also runs throughout the year rather than ending with the NFL season.

The Combo Cost Trap

North Carolina adds another way for the purchase total to multiply. Its online Combo My Teams feature lets a player choose 9, 10 or 11 NFL team logos. The system then generates every possible eight-team combination from those selections. Each generated combination is a separate $5 play. Selecting nine teams creates nine plays. Ten selected teams create 45 plays, while 11 selected teams create 165 plays.

Teams selected	Eight-team plays generated	Cost for one drawing	Cost for three drawings
9	9	$45 (about 1.5 hours of work at $30 per hour)	$135
10	45	$225	$675
11	165	$825	$2,475

ThePricer calculation shows the quantity effect. Nine choose eight produces 9 combinations, 10 choose eight produces 45, and 11 choose eight produces 165. Multiplying those play counts by $5 gives the one-drawing totals above. Moving from a nine-team Combo to a 10-team Combo raises the purchase by $180. Moving from 10 teams to 11 adds another $600 for the same drawing.

A three-drawing 10-team Combo gives a useful itemized case. The chosen 10 teams create 45 eight-team plays per drawing. At $5 each, the per-drawing subtotal is $225. Repeating those 45 plays for three Sundays produces 135 separate plays and a calculated total of $675. This is an illustrative North Carolina checkout scenario. It does not describe normal player spending or a national Combo option.

Prizes and Winning Odds

The jackpot begins at $1 million after a jackpot win and rolls when nobody matches all eight logos. Maryland’s official prize structure lists $20,000 for matching seven teams, $500 for six, $40 for five and $7 for four. The jackpot is paid as cash rather than an annuity. Multiple jackpot-winning plays divide the jackpot equally, and the rules do not require a fixed minimum increase from one rollover to the next.

The jackpot odds are about 1 in 10,518,300 per play. Matching seven carries odds near 1 in 54,783, six near 1 in 1,361, five near 1 in 93 and four near 1 in 14. The chance of winning any listed cash prize is about 1 in 12.16. Lower-tier amounts may become pari-mutuel under some conditions, which means a displayed fixed prize should not always be read as an unconditional payment guarantee. The smallest listed prize of $7 is $2 above the $5 purchase price, but that fact alone does not describe the financial value of a ticket because most plays do not produce a cash prize.

The NFL Prize Program

A purchased Xs & Os ticket also carries access to a national promotional prize program tied to NFL merchandise and experiences. Maryland says each $5 ticket provides five entries after it is submitted through the Powerball promotional system. Both winning and non-winning eligible tickets can participate. The promotional drawings are separate from the regular cash drawing, so entering a ticket into the promotion does not change the eight-team selection or the probability attached to the Sunday cash game.

The extra entry path can affect how a buyer interprets the $5 purchase, but the promotional prize should not be assigned a guaranteed cash value. Prize availability and eligibility depend on the promotion rules, and players choose which promotional drawings receive their points.

Maryland also treats its own My Lottery Rewards system as a separate program. Entering a ticket into one system does not automatically place it into the other. The practical price distinction is narrower. A player already holding an eligible Xs & Os ticket can use that ticket for the Powerball promotional program rather than buying a second Xs & Os play solely to receive promotional entries.

Where Tickets Are Sold

Powerball Xs & Os is launching in 24 lottery jurisdictions rather than everywhere standard Powerball is sold. The launch jurisdiction list covers Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia. Other U.S. lotteries are expected to join later in 2026.

That narrower launch footprint matters to the cost question because purchase methods and advance-play rules come from each participating lottery. Some jurisdictions support online lottery purchases, while others center Xs & Os sales on authorized retailers.

Drawing cutoffs can differ as well. A national $5 price does not create a national online checkout system. Buyers need to use the legal channel offered by the lottery where the ticket is purchased and satisfy that jurisdiction’s age, location and account rules. A person outside the launch group cannot treat an unavailable local Xs & Os sale as a $0 option. The game is simply not part of that jurisdiction’s launch offering unless its lottery joins later.

Xs & Os vs Other Lotteries

Standard U.S. Powerball remains cheaper on a per-play basis. The current Powerball rules keep the U.S. base ticket at $2 per play, with drawings Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Xs & Os costs $5, so one Xs & Os play costs 2.5 times as much as one standard Powerball play. Readers comparing several draw games can also use the broader lottery ticket cost ranges and the separate Powerball ticket cost analysis.

Mega Millions has the same $5 unit price as Xs & Os, but it draws twice each week. Current Mega Millions game information confirms the $5 ticket and Tuesday-Friday schedule. The related Mega Millions ticket cost page covers that game’s built-in multiplier structure.

A 52-week schedule model produces a less obvious result. One Xs & Os play for every weekly drawing costs 52 times $5, or $260. One standard Powerball play for all 156 scheduled annual drawings costs 156 times $2, or $312. One Mega Millions play for 104 drawings costs 104 times $5, or $520. Xs & Os costs more per play than Powerball but $52 less across this all-draw model because it draws once weekly. This calculation models a 52-week schedule rather than observed player behavior.

How to Read the $5 Price

The $5 figure is complete only when the intended purchase is one play for one drawing. Quantity creates the larger bill. Delaware illustrates how state rules can shape that transaction. Its current Xs & Os instructions set the price at $5 per play, permit up to five advance drawings and state that processed tickets cannot be canceled. A Delaware buyer repeating one selection across all five available advance draws would pay $25.

One play stays one entry. A Combo feature, several plays or several drawing dates creates separate entries and separate charges. The buyer should read the displayed total as quantity multiplied by the $5 unit price rather than assume the ticket terminal added an unexplained fee. State-specific online tools can create many combinations in one action, which makes the play count especially relevant before checkout.

Makes sense if

• You want one or more Xs & Os entries.
• You are eligible in a participating jurisdiction.
• You set the play count before purchase.
• You treat the purchase as entertainment spending.

Does not make sense if

• You think $5 covers every generated combination.
• You expect NFL performance to improve lottery odds.
• You overlook the number of advance drawings.
• You need to reverse a noncancelable ticket purchase.

Answers to Common Questions

How much is one Powerball Xs & Os ticket?

One play for one drawing costs $5. Buying several plays or several drawing dates multiplies that amount.

Do I need a regular Powerball ticket too?

No. Powerball Xs & Os is sold as a separate draw game, so a standard Powerball purchase is not required.

How much can a North Carolina Combo cost?

A nine-team Combo costs a calculated $45 for one drawing, 10 teams cost $225, and 11 teams cost $825 because the system generates every eight-team combination.

What is the starting Powerball Xs & Os jackpot?

The starting cash jackpot is $1 million. It rolls when there is no jackpot-winning play.

Can a Powerball Xs & Os ticket be canceled?

Some participating lotteries expressly prohibit cancellation after processing. Check the rules in the jurisdiction where the ticket is purchased before completing a multi-play or multi-draw order.