You can’t win if you don’t play, said many Las Crucens who scurried into local convenience stores Friday, snatching up Powerball tickets in hopes of a snagging a record-breaking jackpot.
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The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s drawing is at $800 million, or a lump sum of $496 million – the largest lottery jackpot in American history.
Powerball is a virtual national lottery, legal in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the game’s website. The commissions that Smithfield News earns, he said, “don’t even pay for an employee”.
The drawing is at 11 p.m. Saturday.
Gloria Mackenzie, 84, from Florida holds the record for winning the largest single Powerball jackpot, US$590.5 million, on May 18, 2013.
Sign the back – This could help if you win and someone tries to claim your ticket. Those figures are before federal and state taxes, which will eat up roughly half of the cash-option prize.
“It’s like if you sold a business”, Simon said.
“I’d take her around the world with me”, Smith said, glancing over at her coworker Ellen Hughes.
With such long odds against winning, perhaps you’re curious about a few things that are more likely to happen than being the one holding the golden ticket. “When we’re out there at the stores, people are walking in and they’re dropping a lot of money on the counter”, said Richard Lopez with the California Lottery District.
In the current frenzy, a player arrived at lottery headquarters recently to claim his $50,000 Powerball prize and expressed disappointment to officials there.
Don Speare, a Grand Forks resident, said he doesn’t play often, but when the jackpot gets this high, he can’t resist. “So, I’m hoping so for everybody else”, Duimstra said. The IRS will immediately withhold about 25 percent from the jackpot before the victor ever gets their lucky little hands on that cash. One hopeful thought: Scott A. Norris, an assistant professor of mathematics at Southern Methodist University, says your tiny odds improve a bit if you let the computer pick your numbers rather than choosing yourself.
“Pople start taking notice when it’s like $250 million for the jackpot; once you hit the $500 million mark, sales just go insane, not just in South Dakota, but nationwide”, South Dakota Lottery public relations director Kelly Thompson said. At $2 a ticket, the strategy would cost about $584 million, and when taxes are subtracted, you’d end up losing money.
Just for comparison, in 1987, Tom and Myra Devlin donated $1 million to the school toward construction of an entrepreneurship center, which came to be known as Devlin Hall.
“I’d buy me a house”, he said.
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As the Powerball jackpot has topped $800 million and is rapidly pushing up toward the lofty $1 billion mark, tickets are being purchased with great enthusiasm across the country.
