DES MOINES, Iowa — Powerball Lottery ticket machines got a workout Saturday as near-record numbers of people bought chances for a $295 million jackpot.
"Somebody's going to get hit by lightning, and somebody's going to win the Powerball," said Pam Hobbs in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The jackpot for Saturday night's drawing in Des Moines, the host of the lottery that is played in 21 states and the District of Columbia, was the second-highest in Powerball history and the third-largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States.
The winning Powerball numbers were 8-17-22-42-47 and Powerball 21. Officials didn't immediately announce whether any winning tickets were sold.
"I just hope someone wins soon," said Delicia Thompson, a cashier at a U-Stop Convenience Shop in Lincoln, Neb. "You can't get anything done besides Powerball. When I get off work, I just go to bed. I'm too tired to do anything."
Lottery hopefuls from non-Powerball states streamed into neighboring states to buy tickets.
However, lines were not as bad as expected in Greenwich, Conn., which suspended ticket sales for a day on Friday because of the mob scenes it has experienced during previous Powerball frenzies.
On Main Street in Fond du Lac, Wis., which has gained a reputation as a "Miracle Mile" for producing at least five big winners since 1994, Ma & Pa's Grocery Store set up a ticket machine outside for drive-up service.
The odds of winning are one in 80 million, but that didn't stop customers from driving 250 miles from Austin, Texas, to pick up tickets in Louisiana, said Altaf Muhammad, a vendor in Logansport.
The biggest Powerball jackpot ever is the $295.7 million won in 1998 by a group of factory workers in Ohio. The richest lottery prize in U.S. history is the $363 million Big Game jackpot, won last year by two players in Illinois and Michigan.