$550 Million Powerball | Video

Jessica Roose | 11/28/2012

In about four hours the numbers will be drawn and someone could become the winner of the biggest powerball jackpot in powerball history. People were buying tickets today, many with the same hope, that they will be the winner of the $550 million Powerball jackpot.

Since 2004, North Dakotans have been buying Powerball tickets, hoping they`ll be the next big winner. And of course with such a high jackpot, everyone`s rushing out to get their tickets and dreaming about what they`re going to do if they win.

"I`d give some to charity and my family and myself," said ticket holder Diane Strom.

"I`d give part of it to church and part of it to my kids and then I`ll worry about the rest of it," said ticket holder Bob Pedigo.

"I`d pay off my student loans and I guess all my dues and go on vacation, travel," said ticket holder Jessica Beheler.

While they all have slightly different plans with the jackpot if they win, they do have something in common. All three aren`t regular powerball players.

"The excitement that big jackpot and the dream of what they would do with that brings out more of the pooling type players. Whether it`s an office pool as well as the occasional players that wait for that jackpot to get to that level," said ND Lottery Director Randy Miller.

Which is exactly what seems to be happening today. Miller says sales in the state on a normal Tuesday are $30 to $40 thousand. Yesterdays powerball sales reached $420,000. Which could make for a bigger jackpot.

"If the jackpot is not won tonight, it will roll over to Saturday night`s drawing and we`ll wait to see what number it might be. But it could be very close to the one billion dollar mark," Miller said.

But that would be a rare sight. He says 75 percent of the plays will be covered tonight. So, there`s a good chance someone in the United States will be a multi-millionaire by morning.

Miller says the odds of winning tonights powerball are 1 in 175 million. There has never been a winner in North Dakota.

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