The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $550 million --

[careless hal]

I bet LVGD is in Arizona now getting his tickets!!!  I will buy a few.  If I win some trainers I know are going to very happy.  Although, I wouldn't spend more than $2 million buying some horses to race.






Nov. 27, 2012
The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $500 million -- the richest Powerball pot ever -- and it's likely to get even sweeter.

"Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."

It's proved true. The total, she says, "has been taking huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." (The most recent drawing, on Saturday night, produced no winning numbers.)

Until now, the biggest Powerball pot on record -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers.

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Lottery officials in Iowa, where Powerball is headquartered, have started getting phone calls from all around the world. "When it gets this big," says Neubauer, "we start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money."

 Don Smith/The Record (Bergen County)/AP PhotoA customer purchases lottery tickets for the... View Full Size Don Smith/The Record (Bergen County)/AP PhotoA customer purchases lottery tickets for the Powerball lottery at Foster Stationery in Bergenfield, N.J., Nov. 24, 2012.
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 The answer she has to give them, she says, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."

About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one.

Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, Neubauer says no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.

Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you are 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.

Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he says; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery

[Just Saying]

I bought a ticket, Hal. If I hit you can explain the odds to me on MY Carribean island. Drinks are on me.

ps Bring Chicago Jazz with you... he always has top shelf cigars with him.

[Bettor]

I purchased my $8 bucks worth on Sunday in Ohio. When I win I'm buying a new truck and trailer for Saint Calvin, a maid for Amy, a new phone for Red Bow Tie, new shoes for Skipper, and a colt to win the Jug for me and GGG. Did I miss anything else?

[LVGaryD]

I purchased my $8 bucks worth on Sunday in Ohio. When I win I'm buying a new truck and trailer for Saint Calvin, a maid for Amy, a new phone for Red Bow Tie, new shoes for Skipper, and a colt to win the Jug for me and GGG. Did I miss anything else?

Madam Ling Ling for old Gary D...

[LVGaryD]

 Ryan and I got our tickets yesterday, Hal. Plus I am in the huge pool at work. I would gladly take sharing that jackpot with 15 others in my pool. 

[Bettor]

Madam Ling Ling for old Gary D...

Consider it done 

[LVGaryD]

Consider it done 

  Should be able to get the one I have in mind for about $250,000.  We will have to pay for her divorce first.

[Bettor]

 

  Should be able to get the one I have in mind for about $250,000.  We will have to pay for her divorce first.

I'm REAL good at paying for divorces 

[LVGaryD]

I'm REAL good at paying for divorces 

  Sorry! 

[Just Saying]

I'm REAL good at paying for divorces 

I bought one of those. Helluva deal!

[AmyHollar]

I have tears in my eyes. 

[Just Saying]

I have tears in my eyes. 

Don't weep for me, Argentina. That was years & years ago. I traded way up. (but don't tell her)

[RocknRoll]

a new phone for Red Bow Tie,

   

[MichiganDale]

If I win, I'm going to build an all new state of the art racetrack with every possible creature comfort, mega purses for the races and jobs for everybody that wants one.

[AmyHollar]

If I win, I'm going to build an all new state of the art racetrack with every possible creature comfort, mega purses for the races and jobs for everybody that wants one.