Groups warn of Powerball scams ahead of historic drawing

The Powerball jackpot has already rolled 19 times since November 7, 2015 because no one won the prize. Tickets are $2 each, and sales stop 59 minutes before the drawing, but may end earlier in some states. Two weeks ago it was a mere $400 million, but it’s since tripled to hit $1.5 billion.

The odds of winning the jackpot long, to say the least, but the state of MA is already cashing in. Other $50,000 tickets were sold in Elizabethtown, Mayfield and Louisville.

That feeling, along with the slight exhilaration I predict I’ll get as I check my ticket, is the allure of the Powerball, and why I’d guess many people are trying their luck. If you match all of the first five numbers (in any order) as well as the red Powerball number, you’ll be extremely wealthy.

When the changes were proposed last summer, analysts at FiveThirtyEight estimated the chances of a $1 billion Powerball would increase from 8.5 percent to 63.4 percent over a given five-year period.

According to the nice woman who sold me my ticket, a Quick Pick – where the machine chooses your numbers for you – generally wins before a ticket where people pick the numbers. The state’s casino-based tourism industry accounts for 28 percent of Nevada’s total workforce, pays taxes that make up 45 percent of state general fund revenues, and is a major contributor to political campaigns. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning – while drowning – than to win the lottery.

The drawing will happened Wednesday night at 11 p.m. The odds of winning the jackpot are more than 292 million to one.

But as lottery officials remind us – you can’t win if you don’t play.