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Subscribe to RSSAlthough the odds are merely one in 175 million, it hasn't stopped people from spending $2 a ticket to take their chances on what has become the largest jackpot in Powerball history. NBC's John Yang reports.
NEW YORK -- The steady stream of commuters, transit workers, and veteran gamblers who stopped by a Grand Central Terminal kiosk Tuesday had one thought in common: To win the estimated $500 million Powerball jackpot, the largest in the game's history.
It's a scene being repeated across the 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands, where Powerball is played.
For Keith "Stix" Lexa, the dream is buying a farm. Lexa, who lives in Queens, N.Y., and works at Grand Central as a Metro-North Railroad mechanic, is a self-proclaimed "big gambler" who plays the lottery regularly.
"I would buy a farm, a bunch of horses," Lexa said. "I've always loved animals." For good measure, he said, he'd also invest in Budweiser.
Overhearing him, Tony, Lexa's friend and co-worker, said he'd buy the farm next door so he could drop by and bug him.
At the Hudson News kiosk where Lexa bought his tickets, more than $1,600 had been spent on Powerball tickets between 7 and 9 a.m. That kind of activity, repeated at store after store across the country, helped drive the estimated jackpot from $425 million to $500 million for Wednesday night's drawing.
As big as this week's Powerball jackpot is, it's not the largest lottery prize ever. That mark is held by the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot that was split by three ticket buyers earlier this year. The biggest Powerball prize was $365 million in 2006, shared by several ConAgra Foods Workers in Lincoln, Neb.
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
Keith "Stix" Lexa and Tony joke about what they would buy if they won the $425 million Powerball jackpot at a Hudson News store in Grand Central Station in New York City on Nov. 27.
Chuck Strutt, executive director of Multi-State Lottery Association, the group that runs Powerball, told The Associated Press there's a 60 percent chance the prize will be won Wednesday. Strutt added the odds of someone taking home the prize can improve if there's a large number of last-minute ticket purchasers picking unique numbers.
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
Eusebio Wilson-Pinto writes numbers on his Powerball ticket at a Hudson News store in Grand Central Station in New York City on Nov. 27.
One reason for the big pot is because Powerball tickets doubled in price to reach $2 in January, which led to an increase in revenue of about 35 percent over 2011. Strutt told The AP that sales for Powerball reached a record $3.96 billion in fiscal 2012, which ended in September, and are expected to reach $5 billion this fiscal year.
In interviews Tuesday, the consensus among both amateur and experienced players at Grand Central was that quitting their job was the first thing they'd do if they won.
Dominic DeCarlo, who was commuting through the station to his job in finance in Manhattan, said he doesn't think about winning too much because he gets discouraged.
"Playing this is against all laws of finance," he said, adding: "I'd probably quit my job, buy a nice house, maybe leave the country."
Eusebio Wilson-Pinto, a tennis instructor who lives in the Bronx and plays every day, said he'd use some of the money to buy the business that employs him and become his boss's boss.
"You got to bribe your boss sometimes," he said.
Teresa White, a mother and a grandmother who lives in Brooklyn and works for MTA Metro-North Railroad, said she'd give half of her prize to a charity that supports education.
Father of four Antonio Macias, 69, who used to work in a Midtown Manhattan jewelry store and said he's been playing the lottery since the late 1970s, would split it among his four sons.
"Happiness is with them," he said.
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
Jennifer, who did not give her last name, poses for a portrait after purchasing a Powerball ticket at a Hudson News store in Grand Central Station in New York City on Nov. 27.
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Leave a Comment:
I hope I win so I can stop voting for those Socialist Democrats
I hopi you win so you can secede
You do realize that you can change the way you vote without winning a lottery, right? Good luck.
And we've gone political folks.
I hope I win so I can actually get myself a full tank of gas for once, eat something besides Ramen, and wear clothing not labeled Faded Glory.
Just kidding, I'm wearing Calvin Klein right now....as if.
I know I change my vote, but until I win I have to vote for my own best interest and not the best interest of America.
That's too bad that so many people vote for purely selfish reasons.
Forget the voting and start praying for me to win this jackpot
I hope that i get at least four numbers right so that I can be a big-deal like DingleB some day and be forced to wear expensive and high-brow fashion even while I'm sitting at my computer-desk since that's the only kinds of clothes that I own. man, that guy's awesome - and so intelligent too
LitterHater
Are we still upset about this morning?
If I win I'm going to give tens of millions of dollars to my friends and family and millions to cancer research and charity.
With whatever is left I'll retire, after I set up some college funds for my grandkids, if and when I have any.
Personally, I wouldn't know what to do with all that money. I own my home, my car, I'm happily married and really have everything I need. Maybe the wife and I could take a trip or something.
I know one thing, I'm not going to end up sending my money to the Cayman Islands or Switzerland.
What am I saying? I think I'll save the buck.
I have a better chance of winning the Scarlett Johansen lookalike contest than winning the lottery.
You can all keep buying your losing tickets, I have the winner.
Keep buying, increase my money !!!!
One question, when I win, do I automatically have to become a Republican douchebag ?
Yes, if you win 278 million dollars before taxes you have to become a GOP douche bag. It's the law.
Voting selfishly at least gives an honest lay of the land and what the people want/need.
My guess is that you two are douche bags without even needing to play the lottery, let alone win it.
If I win, I'm going to wait six months before I make the claim... by the end of six months I'll have a temp address/no telephone/no Internet and nobody will find me that easy. Just send the money (lump sum) to my new bank account.Will pay my attorney and financial adviser in advance..this way they don't bug me later either. In my state you have to do that press conference its the rules to accept the check..but I will show up half hour before the lottery office closes for the day.
I will call lotto office and tell them the ID numbers on my ticket day after drawing (proof I have the winning ticket) so people don't go banannas for six months, and will claim it when I'm ready ( have one year here to claim it).
OK all set..LET ME WIN! LOL
Memo to Liberals/Progressives: If you win.
Remember the oath you took to your idol, Big Government.
You are NOT allowed to keep a penny of your winnings. You didn't build that.
Instead, because of your indoctrination under social and economic justice for the collective, you are to immediately give all of you winnings to the U.S. Treasury where it can be redistributed by Barrack Hussein better than you ever can.
You are incapable of making the tough decisions of who needs that money. Only the Ivy League faculty-lounge elitists in our government can redistribute your money properly. They have extensive experience in these matters as they have read many books by Marx, Lenin and Alinsky.
Any attempt to keep a penny more than middle-class wages will label you as a 1%'er. Attaining any wealth above what your statist overlords in government allow will expose you to ridicule and insult as not giving your "fair share" and not participating on a "level playing field".
Your decision cannot be based on any sound financial or economic principle, it must be based purely on emotions. It’s the right thing to do. The private sector is fine. The government must continue to expand until it has full control of your life as is portrayed in the “Life of Julia”. Thinking is not allowed, only your full submission to whatever thousands of bureaucrats, you never met, in Washington tell you to do.
Good luck.
Buffarilla--Grow up, what kind of idiotic comment is that?
Somehow or other there seems to be a political feel to this fixed lottery. They go hand in hand!
I hope the winner is somebody that needs the money, and that is not rich already.
Good luck...Buy a ticket if you are homeless. I will pray that you win the lottery!!!
You DESERVE to win...Being homeless is one of the worst human conditions. Not having the ability of provide for yourself or your family because you are ill, is another.
I have scrimped, saved, cut corners and have spent $3 in hope of winning SOMETHING, ANYTHING.
Nobody "deserves" to win anything, let alone the lottery.
....Except for me.
@skip #1.9: Don't forget to sprinkle your old friends on the Vine if you win (Have I told you lately how brilliant your comments are? heh heh). I'd like to see it roll until December 26th - with the winner being pulled from a Christmas stocking (Mine! hee hee hee, ho ho ho!).
if i win ,i am taking care of my community !
If I win, I'm building a new comunity.
Pffft, only $500M? Hardly worth the effort of purchasing a ticket. : D
Nobody is going to bring home $500 million with this drawing Wednesday night..but you will receive around (as of now) $328 million (cash option) if you win the JP.
I wouldn't even be able to buy my dream...owning a MLB team. Unless I wanted to settle for the Padres or some other half assed outfit!
Why all the powerball winners are from the north, midwest California and never in the south. It is time for GEORGIA to win.
If a man and a woman from Georgia get married then move to New England and then get a divorce - are they still brother and sister?
Sorry Mary, it will be Missouri this week ;)
People from the northern states and Pacific coast states always win..think OBAMA.
Georgia is going to win - because I had my family member in Georgia bye me a ticket!
Why didn't you buy it yourself?
Mary Moon, It would be a little tough for someone to win in California unless they traveled to Oregon or Arizona to purchase a ticket(s)! 42 states play Powerball. California doesn't...
What would be really cool...is when the jackpot gets this large that they pick several sets of numbers to distribute more chances. I would love to see about 278 people win it and receive like a million dollars each...I think I heard something about that being the one time payout....:0)
If that was the case noone would buy tickets moron
Watch out Jo-1852837. Buffarilla takes this stuff a little too seriously.
Very useful comment dingleberry
I was going to buy everyone here something special with my winnings. Keep it up Buffy, and you won't be getting anything.
Apparently Buffy has a burr up his/her A$$ hahaha....geez lighten up!
And who is this "Noone" fellow, and why should we be concerned if he buys tickets?
Dingle, I'll take a nice little house in my town- fixer-upper is fine as long as the frame/plumbing/electrical is in good shape. :D
Usually when jackpots get this big there are two or three winning tickets sold, and around 20 second place winners. What Jo -185..... was referring to are some of the European lotteries.
There will be a winner sold this drawing, no doubt at all.
inmissouri
You got it. Somewhere near the Plaza?
Nah, I like the small city/large town areas. I'm not big on all the big-city traffic. Spent a summer in North County STL, and grew up in rural southeast MO, and I prefer something inbetween. :D
I hope I win so I can move to the wilderness and be haapy not knowing what the hell is going on in this country and just wait till I see a mushroomed cloud then happily kiss my ass good bye.
I'll admit it, I always buy a few tickets when the pots get big. Before I retired I would get into the community pots at work, and we would have a lot of fun talking about what we would do if we won. It was, and is, just fun.
Sadly, there are some folks that spend WAY more than they can afford.
I'm a liberal if you win send me $50 grand.
No.
I would buy the Jets and turn them around ! The rest I would invest offshore with Romney so I did not have to pay taxes !
You would pay 35% federal tax and the appropriate state tax where the ticket was purchased before they ever give it to you. All you would get is the after tax.
No, you would pay 25% and whatever state income tax you needed to pay. I live in Texas so that amount is zero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for me.
35 % total, When you file for your 2012 tax, you will pay another 10% tax on the winnings.
You get what you pay for!
If I won I'd give most of it away.
A gift tax would be applied on any gift of money over $13,000 and you would also be responsible for paying that gift tax. The amount of any gift without being taxed would be a total of 1 million dollars, if more, all will be taxed at 55% of the amount of the gift.
You are forgetting about the lifetime exemption which is $5,000,000 until 12/31/12 or even $10,000,000 with gift splitting
With 278 million, you would use up that exemption in a day.
Actually, the lifetime gift tax exemption is $5,120,000 per person until 12/31/12. But who's splitting hairs when $500,000,000 is involved.
fck that gift tax , will just hand them the cash! no questions asked or no reciepts
money, money, money......
Anything else important?
Nope.
Seriously, it's a piece about a big lottery jackpot, what do you expect the comments to revolve around?
It will be some old midwestern couple who want to give money to their chiurch and family...how dull
I'd invest it and blow the interest every year on totally worthless purchases and vacations...how fun
"old" "midwestern". Love it. Rick is a liberal who loves to be hypocritical when labeling people.
But Rick is a genius, he is going to invest it and blow the interest to have fun. Why hasn't anyone else figured that out? Hope you win Rick, it would be a great headline. "Liberal wins lotto, invests in solar panels and loses everything before blowing the interest".
Rick- by 'old' do you mean mid-30's to 40? I hope so- that means hubby and I will win :D
See, Rick has the right spirit about this.
Honestly, I hope it's won by somebody who will have a whale of a time with it, not somebody who will do all the PC stuff.
Ian- I think there's enough in this one to do both!
First, I would spend some to buy muscle relaxers because my face would hurt from smiling so much. Next I would buy a large island in Fiji, then with new domain names, I'd set up my own virtual country, with virtual passports, birth certificates, and virtual families. Nobody would ever need be an orphan again. The virtual national anthem would be by Sam Cook, "Wonderful World". Good Luck, Everbody!!!
I would buy cars, and give them to strippers and waitresses, for tips.
gramps & grams are going to travel, live the life of reily,,,and send all seven grandkids to college, you never know,,sure would like to win like every body else.
Grandpa? Is that you? It's me DingleB. Sure would like to catch up on old times with you...if you win.
HELP.....can anyone tell me why so many small "convenience" stores are owned (or run) by people of Indian descent?
Because unlike most Americans these days (and I say this as a white male), they're willing to put in the time and effort to make the business work?
Because they make offers to purchase that american owners cant refuse.
A smart person could live very very comfortably on this kind of money without ever really spending much of it.
Too bad smart folks don't play the lottery.
I am feeling the urge to go buy one of these tickets now though.
Buying one ticket here or there, or joining a workplace pool, isn't a lack of intelligence. It's a fun fantasy for a few days until you lose (like you knew you would), with a miniscule chance that you might get to live out that fantasy.
Now the people that spend more than they can afford and actually think they have a chance- those people have the lights on but nobody's home.
Why? You Can't take it with you!
Just watch me.
AAJJ- because you'll get really cold this winter if you buy a bunch of losing tickets instead of paying your gas bill
People who haven't got the education to even read the numbers to see if they won spending all of their hard earned government handout money on lotto tickets. Now thats funny, and a terrific redistribution plan.
I'm going to get my five tickets right now. Someone has to win! Good luck to......................ME!!!! LOL
actually it's not guarenteed that anyone will win any individual draw, that's why the prize is as big as it is now ma'am
can be guaranteed if you buy every possible combination. however, if you could afford 179mil, you risk sharing with many and losing big time.
I would spend 70% on hookers, booze and gambling. The rest I would squander foolishly.
W.C. Fields quote, wasn't it?
Actually it was the actor George Raft on his death bed
Cool. I thought it might have been fatty arbuckle (however you spell that).
George Best (great Northern Irish soccer player) also said something similar.
I'm in for $10!!! If I win my Christmas cards this year are gunna go like this.....
FROM THE SUN AND FUN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, MIAMI BEACH, WE BRING YOU CHRISTMAS GREETINGS!!!!
If I don't win, I'll just be here freezing my butt off in Iowa, as usual.
2.00 here. And I'm thinking mine would be coming from Hawaii. Probably only staying for a couple weeks, since kiddo needs his school.
And yeah, after we come back we're building a well-insulated house with a ground source heat pump and anything else I can put in it to cut back on heating/ac bills!
Yeah, Buffarillo - the rest on penicilin!! LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
I'm actually to old for the hookers - but I still have a good memory for my age - at least I thing I do.
Folks. You can stop buying tickets now. I have the winning ticket.
Hang around. I'll tell you how it feels Thursday morning when I'm half a Billion dollars richer.