Powerball Players Have 550 Million Reasons To Dream
By Jim Melwert
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Even though you have a better chance of getting struck lightning, a record-setting Powerball lottery jackpot has people lining up to get tickets.
The odds of hitting the jackpot are in an astronomical 1-in-175-million. On the bright side, you have a better chance of hitting Powerball jackpot than you do of dying by a falling coconut – although those odds likely vary by how close you live to a coconut tree.
But even with those long odds, a $550-million dollar annuity, or a cash option of over $325 million pre-tax, has lottery players dreaming what they'd do with all that money:
"Share it with my family, yes, share it with my family."
"Pay my house off, and retire."
"I would move, out of the city. Anywhere."
The $550-million is a record jackpot for Powerball, and it's the second largest jackpot in US lottery history.