Powerball jackpot climbs toward hefty $500 million
The Powerball jackpot has risen to at least $478 million for Saturday night’s drawing.
Bertram Whitted, an employee at TJ’s Deli Mart in Canonsburg, hands over Powerball tickets to a customer Friday. The Powerball jackpot was up to an estimated $478 million Friday afternoon.
Lottery dreamers are making their way to local convenience stores, because this Saturday’s Powerball drawing will offer a jackpot of at least $478 million.
However, one should remember to temper any high hopes. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292,201,338. Statistically speaking, you are more likely to die in a car crash on your way to the store to purchase a lottery ticket, than to actually win the lottery.
This, however, does not stop people from lining up to buy tickets when Powerball jackpots reach outrageously high numbers.
“People who never play, they come to play,” said Ashlee Conner of Avella, a cashier at In N’ Out Food Mart in Houston. “It gets crazy. People just buy and buy tickets.”
According to Conner, more people buy tickets with “quick pick” numbers than choosing their own because they believe the computer-generated numbers have a better chance of winning.
Allison Levis, an A.C. Dellovade employee from Peters Township who works in sales support, went to TJ’s Deli Mart in Canonsburg to purchase a large number of Powerball tickets for her office pool.
Each person participating in the pool contributed $5. Levis came to TJ’s with $125 and was able to purchase 62 tickets for the pool. The group plans to divvy up the winnings if they win a large sum.
Levis said she understands the chances of one of the tickets she purchased being a winner one are “very, very low,” but if she won she would “split it with immediate family, pay off any debt, pay off my house, buy another house, but stay in the same neighborhood.”
The Powerball drawing is at 10:59 p.m. Saturday. Ticket buyers are encouraged to check and double-check their tickets, because there is more than one way to win, with prizes ranging from $4 to millions of dollars.