“Some past lottery winners have even felt the need for police escorts, have received threats and have been tempted to run away or leave their hometowns because of the sheer number of people who “want a piece of them”.
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The 43-year-old truck driver usually doesn’t bother playing the Powerball, but when he heard the jackpot catapulted to $900 million, he figured he’d give it a shot.
The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on November 4 and has been growing ever since.
Sonja Peterson of Minneapolis said she never buys Powerball tickets, but on Saturday, she bought two with random numbers at Bobby & Steve’s Auto World gas station – one for her, one for her boyfriend.
She suggested hiring an estate planner, a certified financial planner and an accountant before claiming the ticket.
The odds of winning the jackpot with a $2 play are 1 in 292,201,338, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, and the odds of winning any prize is 1 in 24.87.
The Powerball drawing time time is set for 10:59 Saturday.
But if one of those numbers within the estimated 25 percent aren’t drawn, the jackpot will once again grow at a staggering rate.
Also note that if you are a New Yorker, you may end up becoming a Republican presidential candidate if you win, since you’ll pay higher taxes in NY than any other place in America, and suddenly have the money to go around the country complaining about it.
With demand surging, lottery officials have increased the projected payout on Saturday’s history-making multi-state Powerball jackpot to $900 million.
The Powerball is lucky number 13.
If she wins, her first purchase will be “a warm vacation”, she said, as the temperature outside the store hovered in the single digits. “I can assure you, there is no office pool for the lottery at the American Statistical Association”, he said.
“That’s a lot of money for someone to win”, she said.
“It’s a very exciting time!”. “[My odds] are frightful but, hey, you know I’ve got just as much chance as anybody in this whole line”, he said.
“In three months, we had a million dollars, $325 thousand, then another million”, owner Albert Handezn said.
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Despite the tiny, minimal, nearly impossible likelihood of winning the lottery, many people are to spending their cash on tickets. He plans to be charitable if he wins. “I’d buy my parents a house, maybe one for me”, said Alicia Swenson, who had just gotten a ticket.
