$700 million Powerball drawing offers lottery ticket holders 1 in 24 odds of winning something
BALTIMORE -- By Thursday morning, someone could be $700 million richer from a Powerball drawing that takes place on Wednesday night.
That $700 million Powerball has some Marylanders dreaming big.
A lot of people have said that they would donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
After that, they might buy a house or travel the world.
It has been exactly 12 weeks since someone with a Powerball ticket that they purchased in Pennsylvania won the last grand prize.
Since then, the jackpot has grown to 700 million, making it the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot and the eighth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history.
Doug Lloyd, who represents the Maryland Lottery, said the average person's chances of winning the entire pot of money may be slim but the chances that they might win something is not impossible.
"Your odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million," he said.
But the odds of winning something are one in 24.
People raced to the stores to buy a ticket on Wednesday for a variety of reasons.
Baltimore resident Darryl Tiggle said a personal anniversary motivated him.
"I'm going to play now 'cause my brother died three years ago today, and so today is going to turn into my lucky day," Tiggle said.
Regardless of their motivations, many of the ticket holders agreed that the large sum of money was too good to pass up.
"It's $700 million," Baltimore resident Nakia Oakley said. "You can't spend it all, and you can't take it with you either."