A growing Powerball jackpot has meant increased sales for the South Carolina lottery.

Across the state, players were lining up for a chance to win the second-largest jackpot offered in the state since the South Carolina lottery joined the multistate Powerball game last year.

The Powerball jackpot has rolled to an estimated $240 million for the Wednesday night drawing. No one has won the jackpot since May 7, when a Charlotte couple won $88.7 million with a ticket purchased in South Carolina.

The largest jackpot offered to South Carolina lottery players was $314 million last December.

"We're slam-packed," said Tia Dawson, a clerk at the Spinx convenience store in Greenville. Although lottery sales are always steady at the store, customers line up out the door when the Powerball jackpot spikes, Dawson said.

The trend is statewide. Nearly $8 million in Powerball tickets were sold across South Carolina as players tried to win Saturday's jackpot worth about $200 million, according to lottery spokeswoman Tara Robertson. That's up from $5.3 million in tickets sold for last Wednesday's drawing for an estimated $165 million jackpot.

A glitch Wednesday night delayed Powerball ticket sales in parts of the state for about an hour, but Robertson said there were no problems Saturday.

"When a glitch hits, it hits," said lottery director Ernie Passailaigue. "People are human, and equipment can fail."

One possible cause of Wednesday's system slowdown could have been the addition last week of the Pick 3 and Pick 4 midday drawings, which are held every day except Sunday, Passailaigue said. The lottery is conducting an internal investigation to determine the exact cause.

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, the lottery sold $724 million in tickets and paid out $415 million in prizes, Passailaigue said.

Since the games began in January 2002, the lottery has transferred about $285 million to the State Education Lottery Account for distribution according to the Legislature, said lottery financial officer Dusty Rhodes.

The proceeds fund educational programs including scholarships, school buses and tuition assistance for two-year programs, as well as gambling-addiction services.

Another transfer is planned next week, which will be from June operations, Rhodes said.

Passailaigue said odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 120 million and people should play responsibly. "People need to be aware that this is just a game and play it as such," he said.