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| Pat Powell, 30, of Atlanta, buys a Powerball lottery ticket at a convenience store, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, in Atlanta. "I think my odds are zero to zero," says Powell "I don't think I'm going to win but I'll just join the hype. If I did win, I'd open up my own business, an internet café in the West Indies and have a learning center here in Georgia. I'll invest and try to be as smart with it as I can with it. I will say for the past 3 days, for whatever reason, I've been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it. There's no ritual but it's just been on my mind so it's like, let me just join the hype and just do it." |
CHICAGO (AP)
-- As Americans went on a ticket-buying spree, the Powerball jackpot
rose to $550 million Wednesday, enticing many people who rarely, if
ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout
in U.S. history.
Among them was Lamar Fallie, a
jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant
daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big
donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."
Tickets
were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide - about six times
the volume from a week ago. That meant the jackpot could climb even
higher before the Wednesday night drawing, said Chuck Strutt, executive
director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
The
jackpot has already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner,
but Powerball officials say they now believe there is a 75 percent
chance the winning combination will be drawn this time.
If
one ticket hits the right numbers, chances are good that multiple ones
will, according to some experts. That happened in the Mega Millions
drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million
jackpot, which remains the largest lottery payout of all time.
Yvette
Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery
player herself, but the huge jackpot means she'll definitely play this
time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin
isn't holding her breath.
"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.
In
the hours before Wednesday's drawing, Associated Press photographers
across the nation sought out ticket buyers and asked about their lottery
fantasies. Here's a look at what they found:
---
When
Atlanta barber Andre Williams buys scratch-off tickets, he typically
does a dance in his shop for good luck. As a first-time Powerball
player, he plans to reprise the dance - and buy a few extra tickets to
enhance his chances.
I don't even know if I'll look at it," said Williams, who bought his ticket at a newsstand. "If I win, I might pass out."
Paralegal
Pat Powell was buying her first Powerball ticket at another store in
Atlanta, even though she acknowledged her odds were probably "zero to
zero."
Still, Powell has specific plans should she win: start an Internet cafe in the West Indies and a learning center in Georgia.
"I've
been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it," Powell
said. "There's no ritual, but it's just been on my mind. So it's like,
let me just join the hype and just do it."
Atlanta
accountant Benita Lewis, who had never played the lottery before,
didn't want to be the only one left in her office without a ticket.
"I did feel nervous buying it like I could be the one," she said. "I'm going to retire and pay off all my family's debt."
---
In
Philadelphia, seafood salesman Billy Fulginiti bought 50 Powerball
tickets with co-workers and a few more with a small group. He said he
only plays when the jackpot is especially large.
"You
go to bed at night wishing you wake up a millionaire," Fulginiti said.
He planned to take a long vacation and "help a lot of people, a lot of
charities," if any of his tickets turn out to be winners.
---
Powerball
purchases at the Canterbury Country Store in Canterbury, N.H., have
been so steady that the manager has been working extra evening hours to
keep up.
Horticulturist Kevin Brags buys
tickets at the store two to three times a month. He says he usually
picks numbers higher than 32 because so many people use numbers 31 and
lower, largely because of birthdays.
The birthday theory didn't scare off Paul Kruzel, a retired doctor who chooses the days his children were born.
Both, however, have the same plans for winning: "make a lot of people happy."
John Olson has a more elaborate idea: He'd like to buy an island.
---
At
a downtown Detroit convenience store, Ceejay Johnson purchased five
Powerball tickets. If she strikes it rich, the analyst from Southfield,
Mich., said she would buy a home for her sister in Florida. Then she
would "go into hiding" and take care of her family.
"And the IRS," she added.
