ATLANTA(Reuters) -Americans lined up at newstands and gas stations around the country this week to buy Powerball lottery tickets, dreaming of defying astronomically long odds to win a jackpot that has mushroomed to more than $1 billion.
At a Shell gas station in Atlanta, where a dozen or so people waited in line on Halloween Monday, the manager said he had been doing swift business with tickets all day. Since lunchtime people have flooded his shop. Traffic was almost nonstop.
It was a scene repeated at lottery agents from coast to coast as people clamored to get in on the action, hoping to win one of the richest prizes ever offered by a major U.S. lottery.
“I only stopped in for a snack. But everyone’s talking about it, so I thought I’d give it a shot,” he said.
When Greene was asked what he would do with the money, others in line shouted suggestions as he pondered a moment.
“I’ve got four kids, and college is expensive,” Greene said. “I’m working three jobs to handle all that. I’d pay for all that and take care of the family.”
The current jackpot ranks as the second highest in the game’s history behind a $1.585 billion top prize in 2016, which was divided among three lucky ticket holders from California, Tennessee and Florida.
A single winner in Saturday’s drawing who opts to take the money as a lump sum would receive nearly $746 million.
The huge Powerball jackpot comes on the heels of the one-point-three billion Mega Millions winning ticket sold in Illinois back in July.
Winners must guess all six lucky numbers including the final “Powerball. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, lottery officials said.
The last time that someone won the Powerball jackpot was on Aug. 3, when a ticket holder from Pennsylvania claimed a $206 million prize. Since then, 37 drawings in a row have produced no grand prize winner.
(Reuters reporting by Rich McKay;Editing by Sandra Maler with contributions from Cooper Banks)
