(WXYZ) — Thousands are expected to play their odds at one of the largest Powerball jackpots in history.
Tonight's $1.2 billion jackpot is the second-largest Powerball and fourth-largest lottery ever!
The last Powerball jackpot win was on August 3. No one has won since then.
Some Michiganders though have gotten lucky by matching all five white balls to win a $1 million prize. At least 7 people in the state have won so far.
But the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are not high. Nonetheless many say it's at least worth a try.
"What would you do with that kind of money," a 7 Action News reporter asks Powerball player Yvonne Williams.
"Buy me a house and buy me another car," she answers.
Williams has a 1 in 292.2 million chance at winning the Powerball jackpot.
But hey, "you can’t win if you don’t try,” Williams said.
And that seems to be the theme around metro Detroit.
"I usually don’t, but when it’s this high take a chance you never know. Someone got to win," a Powerball player said.
Jerry Galaviz who works at Citgo in Dearborn Heights says the gas station sells hundreds of tickets every day. But for this historic Powerball drawing, he anticipates that number will at least double.
As of 4:30 Wednesday evening, one million people had already tried their luck. Galaviz believes that number will jump up significantly as the day goes on.
This evening's $1.2 billion drawing will be the 4th largest jackpot in U.S. history and if no one wins tonight, it could become the biggest prize ever.
"If I hit it it would be good because I can get my family out the hood,” one player said.
A common Powerball number according to lotterynumbers.com is 61. It's been drawn 78 times between 2015 and 2022. The number 32 has been drawn 77 times.
