$250 jackpot brings out Powerball players

Joe Szgeti, 40, from North Carolina, plays numbers for himself and friends. Staff/Ken Osburn e-mail this story More details KEN OSBURN/Staff Willie Canty holds the Powerball tickets he hopes will win him $250 million tonight. KEN OSBURN/Staff Joe Szigeti, of Raleigh, N.C., purchased Powerball tickets for himself and friends back in his home state on Tuesday.

And with the jackpot estimate at $250 million, Tuesday was one of those occasions.

"It's worth the risk," said Canty, 71. "Especially for $250 million."

The latest Powerball jackpot — the fourth largest ever — brought hopefuls to local convenience stores in droves Tuesday.

Joe Szigeti bought 11 tickets at Bouharoun's downtown store Tuesday for himself and his friends back in North Carolina.

Szigeti, a software programmer from Raleigh, said he occasionally plays Powerball when he works in South Carolina -- and on this trip, his friends wanted to give it a whirl.

"Since we don't have gambling in North Carolina, it's always nice to do it -- especially when the jackpot gets big," said Szigeti, 40.

State lottery officials originally slated the jackpot at $240 million but announced Tuesday that the estimate had grown to $250 million with a cash payout option of about $140 million.

Bill Bouharoun said he sees people from all walks of life purchasing lottery tickets at his downtown shop -- including doctors, lawyers and other white collar types.

"The stereotype is that only the poor and indigent buy them, but believe me, they aren't the ones who are playing," he said.

Bouharoun and other stores did so much business Tuesday that his lottery terminal crashed causing a 40-minute delay that afternoon at a handful of stores, he said.

If someone in South Carolina hits the jackpot tonight, they will have to take their prized ticket to lottery headquarters in downtown Columbia for validation, said state lottery spokeswoman Tara Robertson. The winner would then wait up to 14 days for their money.

The national Powerball jackpot has risen to $250 million because no one has won it since Anthony and Monica Wilson, of Charolotte, hit an $88 million jackpot on May 7 with a ticket they purchased in South Carolina. Tonight will mark the 18th drawing since that win.

If someone wins tonight, the prize drops to a minimum of $10 million for the next drawing this weekend, said Robertson.

Powerball is played in 24 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. South Carolina and Louisiana are the only states in the Southeast that offer the game.

Drawings are every Wednesday and Saturday and the odds of hitting the top prize are 1 out of 120 million, said Robertson.