Is the advertised jackpot for Powerball guaranteed? I know if two people win, it's split between the two. But what about the payouts for smaller winners, such as matching 5 (but no bonus powerball), or matching 4 out of 5, etc? Are these non jackpot winners getting paid from the jackpot, or do their funds come from another source? It looks to me like the state is responsible for paying off the smaller winners, meaning the jackpot is not a part of the overall prize pool. What are their provisions if 50 people match 5 numbers but no powerball? That's a total of $50 million in prize money owed (and that's non Power Plays).

What about more Mega Millions, and CA SuperLotto Plus? Do they operate the same way, i.e. jackpot money is only for people who match all numbers + the bonus. Smaller winners get paid from another source?

It's all the same pot but the total of those small prizes isn't as much as you think it is. The prize you mentioned is, according to Wikipedia, 1 in 11 million. So if 100 million tickets are purchased, there would be like 9 winners, not 50.

The EV of all the minor prizes is insignificant, the vast majority of the value is in the main prize.

Yes, that's the expected number of winners, but on any one draw it could be 0, could be 15, could be 50... Low odds on 50, obv, but it could happen. Suppose number 1,2,3,4,5 hit. I bet more than 50 people are winning that prize.

Also, it looks like with PowerBall the states actually cover the smaller winners, and so the jackpot (every penny of it) goes to the person(s) matching all numbers (including the bonus number).

I don't understand what you think you are saying here.

It works like this (numbers totally made up) -

Customer pays $2 for a ticket.
$1 goes to the state (pays for expenses with the balance going into treasury)
$0.50 goes towards paying non-jackpot prizes
$0.50 goes into the jackpot pool
Lottery commission estimates new jackpot number (they are quite good at this)

So the jackpot amount has nothing to do with the smaller prizes.

This is what I was looking for. I wanted to know if there was a jackpot pool, and a (separate) non jackpot prize pool (what I called "smaller prizes"). You answered it perfectly. Thanks

All of the prizes are guaranteed, and there is zero chance the state runs short of receipts from purchasers to pay the prizes and also fund the treasury.