{"id":3868,"date":"2013-05-19T02:25:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-19T02:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/lotto-fever-strikes-americans-as-jackpot-hits-600million\/"},"modified":"2013-05-19T02:25:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-19T02:25:25","slug":"lotto-fever-strikes-americans-as-jackpot-hits-600million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/lotto-fever-strikes-americans-as-jackpot-hits-600million\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotto fever strikes Americans as jackpot hits $600million"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Americans by the droves plunked down cold cash Saturday for a chance at fulfilling their most feverish dream: winning the $ 600 million Powerball lottery jackpot.<\/p>\n

Millions will be glued to their TV sets when the Powerball numbers are drawn in a live event broadcast just before 11:00 pm eastern time (0300 GMT Sunday). If there is no winner, the jackpot could rise to close to $ 1 billion by the next drawing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The jackpot is “the largest in the 21-year history of the game,” the Iowa state lottery agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Kim Chatman, a building security guard in Washington who plans to buy her lotto ticket after work, said “you’ve got to take your chance — that’s what it’s all about.”<\/p>\n

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An advertising board shows the record jackpot of the Powerball US lottery with a record jackpot of 600 million US Dollars in a shop in downtown Washington, DC on May 17, 2013.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The $ 2 tickets are sold at supermarkets, corner stores and gas stations in 42 states, the capital Washington and the US Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

In the midwestern state of Minnesota, tickets are even sold at fuel pumps and automatic teller machines.<\/p>\n

“Strong sales across the country are the reason the prize is taking big jumps now,” the Iowa state lottery agency said — particularly after the May 15 drawing, when the jackpot stood at $ 363.9 million, and there was no winner.<\/p>\n

Sales were also boosted after Powerball tickets became available in California starting in April.<\/p>\n

The game is a choice of five numbers from a pool of 59, plus a Powerball number from a separate pool of 35.<\/p>\n

Powerball — a shared jackpot coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), a non-profit group formed by the participating state lotteries — cannot be played from outside the United States or outside the participating states.<\/p>\n

The richest US jackpot of all time was $ 656 million, won in a Mega Millions drawing in March 2012 and split between three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. Like all US lotteries, the winnings are subject to tax.<\/p>\n

Back then, “there were big lines for three days” of customers buying tickets, said Rajendra Prasad Bhusal, who works at the Continental Wine and Liquor store in downtown Washington.<\/p>\n

That’s when the tickets cost $ 1. “Now, people complain that the tickets cost too much,” he said.<\/p>\n

In recent days, customers have streamed in to buy Powerball tickets, but the crowd is only a third of the numbers seen in March 2012, according to the liquor salesman.<\/p>\n

The Powerball website says the odds of winning the jackpot are one in 175,223,510. For a comparison, the odds of getting struck by lighting in the United States is one in 280,000, according to the National Lightning Safety Institute.<\/p>\n

The main Powerball website advised that “swinging a live chicken above your head while wishing for the future numbers does NOT work” to improve the chances of winning. “There is no improvement to be had by swinging a dead chicken,” it added.<\/p>\n

Buying more tickets helps, “but the odds are still high and hitting the jackpot is still a question of fate,” it said.<\/p>\n

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