TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – It’s time to dream big. The Powerball jackpot is at $800 Million.
Saturday night's drawing will be the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. That beats the previous record for lottery payout---set in 20912 by Mega Millions. It was $656 Million.
If you will Powerball you will have more money that some of the world’s wealthiest celebrities like boxer Floyd Mayweather, and singers Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, and Katy Perry combined.
Even if you take the cash payout, which is more than $496 Million, you could still top the list.
But don’t count your money yet. The odds of winning are one in 292 million.
When the Lottery gets this high even people who don't unusually play will buy in.
Jeff Black says, “This was actually just an impulse stop for us. We're like, yeah, you know, okay, and I just turned in. I didn't wake up thinking I'll go buy a lottery ticket but..."
You often hear people say they don't want to be the only one left behind, especially if there's an office pool. But rough office politics are nothing compared to the trouble if you can't trust your co-workers.
In New Jersey a construction worker who was supposed to buy tickets for the pool tried to claim a 38 million dollar jackpot on his own.
Co-workers sued. He lost.
Everyone in the pool needs a clear understanding of who's in, and documents like lists and copies of tickets.
Chances are your pool will be quick picks. 70 Percent of winners used them but that doesn't really mean they're more likely to win. 70 percent of winners used quick picks because 70 percent of all players use quick picks.
ABC News worked out the numbers that come up most often: 8, 13,14,39,54. They didn't work out the most common Powerball.
Powerball posts 13 years of winners on its website.
And the state that produced more jackpot winners than any other is....Pennsylvania, with 16 jackpot winners.
Missouri and Indiana rank second with 11 winners apiece.
Arizona doesn't do too badly. We rank number 6, with six winners, tied with California, Iowa, New Jersey and New York.
Pennsylvania's lucky record led Suzanne Porter, to cut a deal with her brother in Pennsylvania.
"He's buying one up there and I'm buying one down here so whoever winds is splitting it."
If you do win, attorneys like Mike Piccarreta say get good legal and financial advise before you even claim the prize. The world of lotteries is full of people who never dreamed they could spend all that money but they did---and they're broke.
