$800M Powerball jackpot has Siouxlanders racing for tickets

On Friday alone, the Arkansas Lottery reported more than $2.135 million in Powerball ticket sales as of 8 p.m.

“Thousands upon thousands of Canadians are buying tickets online for the biggest lottery jackpot draw in world history”, said TheLotter.com in a news release.

However, lottery officials say the odds of winning Saturday’s drawing are just 1 in 292.2 million – or very unlikely.

The $800 million jackpot for the Powerball game started at $40 million on November 4 and has grown ever since.

I really we wish we had a good answer for this one – I really, really do!

Although you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than win the grand prize, the odds are a little better for smaller prizes.

Powerball’s website is cognizant of different tactics employed to win a big jackpot and gives some details that analytical types might find helpful, like previous winning numbers and a frequency link that outlines the frequency specific numbers are drawn.

If the victor is in the state of Oklahoma, 5% of the winnings will be taxed.

The odds are a matter of statistics and probability, but they’re facts that most players may not completely understand, said Ron Wasserstein, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Statistical Association.

Bashir Rahman, a chef from Moscow, Idaho, who was traveling through Nebraska, said he chose to buy a couple tickets at a Casey’s gas station in Lincoln, but he realizes it’s a long, long shot. She added large groups bought 50 to 100 tickets at a time.

“Normally I don’t fool with it (the lottery) unless it gets ridiculous like it is here”, Shell Food Mart customer John Higginbotham said. Not exactly great. One in 294 million.

“If you win it in New York City, that’s where you’re going to come out taking home the least”, said Gerald Prante, an economics professor at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

“I haven’t played myself for about 10 years now, because to me it’s just kind of ‘meh, ‘ ” she said. But Wasserstein said he and his colleagues know too well the almost impossible odds to plunk down even $2 for a ticket.