Lottery jackpot expected to hit $100M Wednesday|[01/02/07]
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, January 2, 2007
No jackpot winners in Saturday’s multistate Powerball game means the top prize will rise to an estimated $100 million for Wednesday’s drawing.
Hattie Vines, manager of Chevron Interstate Food Stop, a convenience and gas station on Interstate 20 just across the Louisiana border, said she expects people to come from as far away as Memphis, Alabama and Hattiesburg to buy chances at $1 each.
“It hasn’t gotten over $100 million in a while,” she said.
The odds to claim any prize in Wednesday’s drawing are 1 in 37, according to the Louisiana Lottery Corporation Web site. The odds are exponentially higher against matching all six numbers to be drawn, but, historically, once the pool hits $100 million, ticket sales skyrocket.
“It will probably hit Wednesday or Saturday, and we’ll have some winners,” Vines said.
Mississippi does not participate in any lottery, so outlets just west of Vicksburg are the closest purchase sites for people living in West Central Mississippi, including the Jackson area.
The multistate, multimillion-dollar Powerball from the Louisiana Lottery has jackpots that start at $15 million and keep growing until at least one ticket has five correct numbers and a correct sixth number, called the powerball. If more than one ticket has the correct combination, the jackpot is divided accordingly.
Twenty-five states, in addition to Louisiana, participate in the Powerball game.
In last Saturday’s drawing, four people had five correct numbers, but not the powerball. One was in Harvey, La., and the others in Indiana, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. They won $200,000 each.
The stream of Powerball buyers has greatly increased over the holidays, Vines said.
“Everybody’s expecting it to hit,” she said.
Joseph Billiot, an employee of Louisiana I-20 East Travel Center, a truck stop on Interstate 20 and U.S. 65 in Tallulah, said the last time he remembers the Powerball getting to more than $100 million was last year. “It was like $140 or $150 million,” he said.
He’s unsure whether the winning ticket awaits one lucky customer at his store, but like the players in the game, he’s leaving it up to chance.
The Powerball drawings are every Wednesday and Saturday, and tickets for each drawing must be purchased by 9 p.m. on the day of the drawing.