Cashing out: Powerball jackpot nears $500 million

John Bacon, USA TODAY1:09 p.m. EST February 11, 2015


(Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP)


That line forming at your local convenience store Wednesday may not be for the deal on milk or bear claws.

Powerball tickets are the lure. A jackpot totaling almost a half-billion dollars will be on the line when the multistate lottery makes its drawing Wednesday night.

The jackpot, fattened by a drought that has seen no winner since Nov. 29, is estimated at $485 million. That’s the third-largest Powerball prize ever and the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

In Tampa, Ben Taran and Dave Baker decided to try their luck at the Carrollwood Market, where a $50-million ticket once was sold. The duo took up a collection at Carrollwood Country Club and arrived with a fistful of cash — $222, to be exact.

“They took out their wallets immediately,” Baker said of his coworkers. “They were in and they were more than happy to be a part of it.”

Baker and Taran aren’t thinking too big — their goals include paying off student loans and riding on a party bus. But they also understand the risk of getting the “fever” for gambling.

“You got that fever, it never goes away,” Taran said.

The last drawing took place Saturday, when the jackpot was a cool $380 million. That was enough to form long lines at many outlets in the final hours of ticket sales. Rick Dennison stood in one of them at a Shell gas station in Brook Park, Ohio.

“It’s getting really up there,” the hopeful Dennison said. “You know how much I can do with that kind of money? There would be no homeless people left in Cleveland. There would be no hungry people left in Cleveland.”

The two biggest Powerball jackpots: In May 2013, Gloria Mackenzie of Zephyrhills, Fla., won $590.5 million. And in November 2012, Matthew Good of Phoenix and Cindy and Mark Hill of Dearborn, Mo., split a $587.5-million prize.

Powerball is played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada or Utah you are out of luck — those states don’t participate. Or maybe residents there are the lucky ones — the chances of winning with a $2 ticket are about 1 in 175 million.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/nati...kpot/23234843/