UPDATE @ 8:30 a.m. Aug. 23: Lottery players were buying tickets this morning for tonight's $700 million Powerball drawing.
It marks the second-largest jackpot in the history of the game, and a single winning ticket would pay $443 million if the ticket holder chose the up-front cash payout.
EARLIER: Powerball ticket sales picked up Saturday as the drawing neared for a $535 million jackpot — the fifth largest ever.
“We’re getting all sorts of new people in,” said Michael Sliger, manager of Bee Gee’s Mini Market in Kettering. “Everybody’s wanting to take a chance at the big money.”
Credit: Chris Stewart
Credit: Chris Stewart
Teresa Williams, 66, of Kettering bought $10 worth of tickets at Bee Gee’s but said her odds of winning are probably “zero, if you look at the statistics.”
The multi-state lottery actually places the chance of winning the grand prize closer to one in 292.2 million. The drawing is tonight at 10:59 p.m. in Tallahassee, Fla.
The actual after-tax estimated value of tonight’s drawing is estimated at $338.8 million.
David Sprowl, Jr., 52, won $12 in the most recent drawing worth $432 million and was trying his luck again Saturday at the Smithville Market in Dayton.
“I like to play when it’s high like this,” said the roofer from Dayton.
Credit: Chris Stewart
Credit: Chris Stewart
Sprowl said he’s uncertain he’d quit his job if he wins the huge jackpot but said he would take care of family and friends.
“I don’t know if I would continue working,” he said. “I probably would have to do something. I’d probably buy a working farm.”
Three winners split the biggest Powerball jackpot ever, $1.59 billion, in January 2016.
After giving money to family and charities, Williams said if she won she’d gamble some more.
“I would like to go on a road trip and hit all the casinos,” she said. “Basically I’d just spend it. Because you can’t take it with you.”