The record Powerball jackpot reached $1.5 billion Tuesday in advance of tonight's drawing, but Arkansas' lottery director hedged on whether the lottery would sell more Powerball tickets today than the record $4.4 million worth it sold Saturday.
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"It is hard to say," said lottery Director Bishop Woosley, who has worked at the lottery since July 2009 and been the lottery director since February 2012.
"With a world record jackpot, you would expect record sales. But we did sell $4.4 million in Powerball sales on Saturday. That was a record and will be difficult to beat," he said. The jackpot was $900 million Saturday.
The lottery has sold more than $13 million in Powerball tickets this month, the state's highest monthly total for those tickets, the lottery said in a news release.
With 292,201,338 possible six-number Powerball combinations that could be played, tickets sold nationally for tonight's drawing could cover 85 percent of those combinations, the lottery said. Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
In addition to Saturday's sales, the Arkansas lottery sold $1.3 million in Powerball tickets Monday, $550,848 on Sunday and $2.3 million on Friday, he said. A ticket costs $2, unless a multiplier option is added for an extra dollar.
Woosley said the Arkansas lottery's best Powerball ticket sales are in stores in Lake Village, and most of these sales are to Mississippi residents crossing the border. Mississippi doesn't have a state lottery.
The Filling Station on U.S. 65/82 in Lake Village has sold $89,479 worth of Powerball tickets since the latest run started Nov. 5, and that's the most among the lottery's 1,900 retailers, Woosley said. Two other stores on U.S. 65 in Lake Village also rank high -- the Double Quick No. 79 ranks second with $66,680 in Powerball sales during this period, and the Tobacco Superstore 54 ranks fifth with sales of $29,654, he said.
The Y&E Superstop store in Bryant along Interstate 30 ranks third with $49,162 in Powerball sales, Woosley said. The Helena Crossing Conoco on U.S. 49 in West Helena-Helena ranks fourth in Powerball sales with $33,027.
Lottery players across the state are betting on the Powerball.
Nearly every other person waiting in line at the Kum & Go convenience store and gas station at 1010 N. Thompson St. in Springdale was buying Powerball tickets Tuesday morning.
Even people not buying tickets were talking about Powerball. Clerks asked each customer if he wanted to buy a ticket.
Mickey Curtright of Bethel Heights said she decided to buy a ticket after seeing the payout climb to $1.5 billion. Like others, she was caught in the excitement, Curtright said.
"The odds are slim, but the odds are zero if you don't buy one," Curtright said.
The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 292.2 million, while the odds of winning one Powerball prize are one in 24.9, according to the lottery.
Curtright doesn't often buy lottery tickets, she said. The last time was about a year ago. She and her husband already had worked together to come up with lottery numbers, which they use repeatedly, she said.
Lisa Davidson of Springdale bought tickets in Bentonville, Springdale, Fayetteville and planned to buy one in Rogers. She said she was excited and hopeful about winning. The money could help take care of her family and her church, improve the lives of veterans, help single parents and build a home for homeless people, she said.
"I want to be able to help everybody," Davidson said. "Whoever wins it, I hope they see the need for everybody."
Curtright also hoped to give money to charity and take care of her family, but she said she'd also like to travel.
The winner would have a cash option or annuity option.
The $1.5 billion jackpot has a cash value of $930 million, so the winner would take home $632.4 million after taxes under the cash option, Woosley said.
Under the annuity option, the winner would receive the full jackpot amount, with less in taxes taken out of the first and annual payments, in 30 payments over a 29-year period.
Arkansas lottery has helped fund more than 30,000 Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships during each of the past six years.
The lottery started selling tickets on Sept. 28, 2009.
Its revenue and net proceeds have declined during each of the past three fiscal years, after peaking in fiscal 2012. The Legislature has cut the size of the scholarships for future recipients three times, partly because the lottery's net proceeds fell short of initial projections.
But the lottery's revenue and net proceeds during the first six months of fiscal 2016 have increased from the same period in fiscal 2015.
Information for this article was contributed by Scarlet Sims of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 01/13/2016