Worth a gamble? Powerball jackpot at $240 million

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 posted 04:03 AM EST

If you have never played Powerball, but have always dreamed of hitting it big, now is the time to take a chance.

The jackpot for Wednesday night's drawing will be $240 million, making it the 7th largest pot since the multi-state lottery began in 1992.

The odds of winning are long at 1 in 146 million, but matching the right number would land you on the list of the biggest winners in lottery history.

The largest kitty ever - $365 million - won was on Feb. 18, 2006 in Nebraska. The other top prizes were: $340 million on March 19, 2005 in Oregon; $314.9 million on Dec. 25, 2002 in West Virginia; $295.7 million on July 29, 1998 in Indiana; $295 million on Aug. 25, 2001 split on tickets sold in Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota and New Hampshire; and $261.3 million on July 9, 2003 in Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Minnesotans have fared very well when it comes to winning big Powerball money. Michael Hawes , 46, of Lakeville, did win $47 million in November. He split the $94 million prize with a group of nine people from Arizona. Overall, Minnesota has had 19 jackpot winners, ranking third among the 29 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands where Powerball is played.

In Minnesota, where lottery spokeswoman Debbie Hoffmann said sales for Wednesday's drawing will pass the 2 million mark, luck strikes at gas stations and convenience stores. Those outlets sell more tickets than other types of merchants, and have produced a majority of the state's Powerball winners, she said.

Tickets for Wednesday's drawing must be bought by 9 p.m. for the drawing at 9:59 p.m. Should you win, you'll have to make the difficult choice of taking the annuity of $240 million, or the cash option of $114 million.

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