PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The numbers are in for Wednesday’s drawing for a $1.25 billion Powerball jackpot.
They are 25-33-53-62-66 and the Powerball was 17 with a 4x Power Play. For more, click/tap here.
The massive prize drew a steady stream of customers throughout the day. Some bought one or two tickets, while others purchased as many as 50.
“A billion — everybody is buying at least one,” said Mark Anthony Espinosa, manager of a Phoenix Shell station. “You get guys who routinely buy maybe 10 times more, especially when it’s over $1 billion.”
The jackpot has grown so large that digital monitors displaying the prize amount max out at $999 million and cannot show the full $1.25 billion total.
Many customers said they don’t normally play the lottery but couldn’t resist the chance to win more than a billion dollars just before Christmas.
“Only playing because the jackpot is so high,” said Terese Carnahan, who bought tickets Wednesday.
Robert Casey said he hasn’t played Powerball in more than five years. “I just figured, what the heck,” he said.
Players dream of big payoffs despite long odds
According to Powerball, the chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million. But the long odds haven’t stopped players from imagining what they would do with the money.
“I’d disappear probably, move to Puerto Rico or something, buy a big house, a bunch of cars, a big garage and all that,” said Andrew Gonzales. “You’d probably never see me again.”
“I would pay off my medical bills, my parents’ medical bills, make it so my parents can retire and all that,” said one man.
“I’d donate a good portion of it and spend the rest on my family and me,” said Helena Gonzales.
Brittney Underwood, who was recently released from prison, said she bought a ticket hoping to win money she needs. “I was just released from the penitentiary about three days ago, so I need some money, so I’m going to purchase Powerball and pray to God that I win,” she said.
Wednesday night’s drawing represents the sixth-largest Powerball jackpot in history. The largest jackpot was $2 billion in 2022.
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