Powerball lure too much to resist for many

Posted at: 11/28/2012 11:43 PM | Updated at: 11/28/2012 11:44 PM
By: Lynette Adams | WHEC.com

ReNee Wideman says she normally doesn't play Powerball, but on Wednesday night she says her son insisted she get a ticket - and with a jackpot of $550 million, she couldn't say no. With just minutes to spare before the 9:00 p.m. cutoff, she got her hands on a couple of tickets.

"Out of all that money that's out there, that one person, even several people could win it. It's amazing," Wideman said. She added that it would be even more amazing if she had that winning ticket. "First I would buy my mother that Lexus she wants for a retirement gift. Then I think I would spread it all around."

But with $550 million you could buy a lot of big ticket items - like more than 850 thousand iPads, nearly a thousand Rolls Royce Phantom coupes, a 400-foot mega-yacht, nine executive jets, or one 747 jumbo liner with plenty of cash left for fuel, and plenty of money for friends and relatives.

Jay Johnson has a plan for handling the stampede of new best friends and long lost relatives: "Change my cell phone number and deactivate my Facebook account."

For many people like Johnson who normally don't play the lottery, the lure $550 million was too strong to resist.

The odds of winning this Powerball jackpot are pretty slim - 175 million to one. To put it in perspective, you have a better chance of becoming a movie star, becoming President of the United States, or being attacked by a shark.

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