With A Powerball Jackpot At $700 Million, Players Can Expect Lines To Get A Ticket

A Powerball Jackpot of $700 million has got the attention of a lot people. Players are lining up at lottery outlets across Ohio and the nation for a chance at the second highest jackpot ever.

And, no doubt, many will be anxiously awaiting to hear the numbers, which will be drawn at 10:59 p.m. ET tonight. Players must buy their tickets by 10 p.m. ET.

At the Friendship Food Store in Amherst, traffic was light early this morning. But clerk Brandi Vega said it would not stay that way. When the jackpot gets this big, every other customer who walks through the door buys a ticket.

“You got to play to win,” says Vega of Lorain. Mostly, she says, players let the computer pick the numbers, but a few pick their own.

That’s how the last Ohio jackpot winner, Mary Ann Thompson of Conneaut, did it when she won $124.9 million in July 2014, said Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Danielle Babb. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Cleveland newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

Since Ohio joined the multi-state Powerball game in 2010 in two other winning tickets have been sold in the state, one for a $261.6 million jackpot to a blind trust from Sunbury, Ohio, in June 2010, and the other for a $97 million jackpot for a group of auto shop workers from Detroit who bought their ticket at a Toledo-area carryout.

The chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338, according to the Ohio Lottery. The game is played by matching all five white balls, numbered 1 to 69, in any order and the red Powerball number, numbered 1 to 26. Cash prizes of as little as $4 are paid to people who pick the Powerball right to $1 million if a player picks all five white balls, but misses the Powerball number. To bag the jackpot, a player has to pick all five white ball numbers and the Powerball number.

You have two choices when you claim your prize: The full value paid in 30 installments over 29 years, or a one-time lump sum that is smaller than the actual total. Powerball drawings can be seen on hundreds of TV stations nationwide. (Where to watch the Powerball drawing on TV.)

Thinking about what you might do with all of that cash is great fun. Houses, travel, sports cars and helping friends and family are common themes. Please tell us in the comments section of this article, what is the first thing you would do if you win Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot?

See Also: Powerball Is Over $700 Million: Here's Why You Shouldn't Be Impressed

Image by Jeff Stacklin/Patch staff