The winner of the PowerBall game’s last record jackpot has spent some of the money to buy tickets for the next drawing. An Oregon couple who won 340-Million dollars in October this week admitted to buying tickets for the multi-state lottery game again.
The Saturday jackpot’s expected to be 365-Million, though Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Tina Potthoff says you’d better not count on being the next winner. The odds of winning the overall PowerBall jackpot are about one in 142-Million. Potthoff says in any given week people don’t choose every possible combination of the numbers Before the drawing’s done they know what combinations of numbers have been chosen by the computer or players, and sometimes it’s only around 40-percent of the possible numbers.
Since the PowerBall computers are all on-line connected to each other and lottery headquarters, operators can analyze the number of tickets sold, where they were purchased, and even which combinations most often are on tickets randomly picked by computer or chosen by ticket buyers.
If you want to choose a number combination that’s not held by many players, there are some tips. Choose some numbers that right after one another, like 51 and 52, or 35 and 36. The reason why nobody usually does that, especially with the higher numbers, is that people most often choose combinations like their family’s birthdays, days of the week or the month. She urges people to play responsibly, “within reason, one or two dollars.” She points out, it only takes one dollar to win.