Could you guarantee yourself a Powerball jackpot?

Jorge Falconi checks out his Powerball tickets at Simply Elegant Super Deli in Hawthorne on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.

The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s drawing has surged to a record-shattering $1.5 billion, and it could rise again today before the numbers are drawn.

11 News took a look at what a $1.5 billion jackpot could mean for a Colorado victor. The biggest-ever lottery jackpot that could go to a single ticket-holder hangs in the balance.

The odds of picking the winning number in the Powerball drawing are 292 million-to-one, according to officials with the Arizona Lottery. The odds of winning the big prize are 1 in 292 million but that hasn’t damped people’s spirits.

The victor – assuming no split in the prize – stands to take home the jackpot in annual payments over 29 years.

“You do not have to be a citizen of the U.S., people are coming from Mexico and Canada to purchase tickets”, he added. The former record Powerball jackpot was $590.5 million, won in May 2013 by a Florida woman.

Long lines have been reported at Powerball locations across the country, but especially at retailers on borders next to a state without the lottery.

All jackpot winners have to pay a tax on their winnings, along with additional state and local taxes.

Six states have no lotteries of any kind.

While competition concerns prevent the lottery in Nevada, religious beliefs have posed a barrier in Alabama, Mississippi and Utah. “The important thing to know is that there’s no way to win a lottery prize, if you haven’t bought a ticket”. In Hawaii, lawmakers have proposed lottery measures, but the idea always fails.

But the skyrocketing Powerball jackpot is making this a $2 flutter that makes some sense. Numbers can be randomly selected, or players can choose their own.

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.