Powerball jackpot jumps to $500M

The jackpot will be the largest since a Powerball prize that climbed to $564.1 million last February before it was won by players from North Carolina, Texas and Puerto Rico.

ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS The Powerball jackpot is now at $500 million for Wednesday’s drawing.

Saturday’s prize reportedly would be the largest lottery jackpot in USA history, but expect it to grow even larger because of increased ticket sales.

The last person to win the Powerball jackpot in OH was Mary Ann Thompson, of Conneaut, on July 9, 2014, according to lottery officials. Most have a a strategy – some play their lucky numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, and others just let the machine do the work and cross their fingers.

However, there are a few things you can do to possibly better your odds of winning.

Millions of people are flocking to buy tickets for Wednesday night’s big jackpot.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Peuto Rico. The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever hit in Kansas was one third of a record $656 million jackpot in March 2012.

Whoever holds the winning numbers can either take the full payout over the course of 30-years or a cash option of an estimated $306 million and that’s before taxes.

“People are coming and buying tickets here, because there’s too much money”, said store Manager David Patel.

She’s one of dozens of customers at Blendon Drive Thru in Westerville buying a chance at the Powerball Jackpot.

Meanwhile, the odds of winning the top jackpot went from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million.

NBC News spoke with lottery officials about the possibility of groups splitting the cost of tickets for a higher chance of winning. For some perspective, consider that the chance of getting struck by lightning in a year is roughly one in 960,000.