Powerball jackpot hits $700 million

Published 6:30 am Wednesday, August 23, 2017

VALDOSTA — The second largest jackpot in Powerball history of $700 million is up for grabs Wednesday.

No one claimed the Powerball jackpot drawing Saturday, and as a result, the Powerball jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing is estimated to be worth $700 million for a single annuity winner. The jackpot has rolled 20 times since June 14.

Powerball offers two jackpot payment options: the $700 million jackpot prize paid through a 29-year period in 30 graduated payments or the cash option, which is approximately $443 million.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play.

Conner Yost is a semi-regular customer at the M&M Food Mart on Melody Lane and bought her Powerball ticket about noon Tuesday. It wasn’t her first time buying a ticket, but she doesn’t play it that often, she said.

She said she chose the M&M Food Mart because a lot of people win the lottery there. She went with the quick-pick option and said that if she won she would go with the one-time lump sum. Yost would then distribute the money to her family and buy some land to build a house.

“You know, typical Southerner answer,” Yost said.

For Bhumi and Bobby Patel, who operate M&M, they see people come in all day spending up to $100 on Powerball tickets. Sometimes, big groups of people come into the store and buy $500 worth of tickets, they said.

“When no one wins, we see the same people come back and do it again,” Bhumi said.

Latoya Stafford plans on buying her ticket after work Tuesday. She will buy three tickets, one for each of her kids. Stafford has a secret system for choosing her numbers and would take the one-time lump sum if she won.

“You only live once and I wouldn’t want to wait for it,” Stafford said. “I like investing, so I would invest most of it in real estate and use the rest to help my family.”

As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Powerball will benefit education in the state of Georgia.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery has returned more than $18.7 billion to the State of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program.

More than 1.7 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.4 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256