Big dreams as Powerball jackpot hits $320 million

(CBS News) One person in America could be $320 million richer Wednesday night.

That's when the Powerball drawing will be held in 42 states as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, with a jackpot worth an estimated $320 million.

CBS Station WCBS New York notes no one has won the top prize since June. This current jackpot is reported to be the fourth biggest in Powerball's 20-year history. In order to win the game, the five white balls and the red Powerball drawn have to match. The odds of winning the entire jackpot is 1 in 175 million, according to the Powerball Web site.

This past April, 81-year-old Louise White of Newport, Rhode Island won a Powerball jackpot worth $336 million. And in June, workers from Quaker Oats won a $241 million Powerball prize.

Video: Powerball jackpot up to $320M

What do some Powerball players hope to do with their winnings if they hit the jackpot?

"I'd hire a chauffeur to drive me around so I don't have to walk," said Henry Lewandowski, of Clifton, N.J.

"I'd buy a house and pay my daughter's college off," said another person from the Tri-State area.

In Philadelphia, newsstand owner Steve Ricchini bought some tickets for himself and said he would retire if he won.

"What would I do? I would not be up at 4 o'clock in the morning, I can tell you that. Unless I was still awake from the previous night," he said, as reported by CBS affiliate KYW Philadekphia. He gets also gets a bonus if the winning ticket is purchased from his newsstand.

Meanwhile, CBS Station WBBM Chicago reported that while sales via lottery machines in Illinois have been brisk, online sales have not met expectations.

"We still do $60-70,000 a week in sales over the Internet but, our research suggested that between 600,000 and a million people would begin playing the lottery when the prize was $100 million or more," said Michael Jones, director of the Illinois Lottery.

Although the price of a Powerball ticket went up to $2 as of this January, Minnesota State Lottery's John Mellen thinks the increase is beneficial for the lotteries and the players.

"Because the jackpot now starts and $40 million but it grows faster and it grows bigger," Mellein said, as reported by CBS affiliate WCCO Minneapolis. "And that's what players have said they wanted in this game."