The next Powerball drawing is tonight at 10:59 p.m., and even though the odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million, people have been lining up at Ohio Lottery retailers in Springfield to get in on the action.
The previous record was a $656 million Mega Millions payout in 2012 handed over to three lucky winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.
The $800 million figure is for an annuity paid out over 30 years. If taken as a lump sum the winner will get an estimated $496 million.
Plum Food Market on Plum Street has long been the top seller of lottery tickets in Clark County, and Friday was no exception. Parking spots were full and the line stretched almost out the door.
Owners and brothers Paresh and Such Patel were in the Powerball spirit, donning colorful hats with the number 800 on them.
“If anyone asks how we are doing today, we just say, ‘$800 million,’” Paresh Patel said.
They prepared for the higher than normal customer volume by calling in an extra staff member during the middle of the day and planned to have two more during the after-work rush.
“It’s going to get to $1 billion,” Paresh Patel said.
Those buying tickets ranged from first-time lottery players like Sherry Jennings, who said she’d give each of her relatives $1 million dollars if she won, to lotto veterans like Cheryl Crawford Smith Kane.
“I’d help my church first,” she said, then her daughter and grandchildren. “I’d probably end up with no money.”
Clark County has had winners claim Powerball prizes in recent years, but not the jackpot.
A New Carlisle woman won $1 million in 2011 followed by a Medway woman in 2014. The largest Poweball prize won in Springfield was $200,000 in 2010.
The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on Nov. 4 and has been growing ever since. Because the payout is based on sales, the prize has grown more quickly as the jackpot has increased and more people have been drawn to play. It could increase further by the time sales end Saturday night.
Powerball is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 292.2 million, meaning there are better odds of:
- Being struck by lightning, while drowning (1 in 183 million)
- Being attacked by a shark (1 in 11.5 million)
- Getting elected president of the United States (1 in 10 million)
- Getting struck by lightning (1 in 164,968)
- Being drafted by an NBA team (1 in 6.8 million)
- Being killed by a vending machine (1 in 112 million)
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
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