Powerball fever grows as jackpot hits an estimated $1.2 billion, second-highest ever

Minnesotans chasing that sweet dream of life-changing wealth are snapping up Powerball tickets as the multistate lottery pot is projected to reach $1.2 billion by the time of Wednesday night's prize drawing.

"Sales have been through the roof," said Tomaine Grissom, a clerk at the Penn-Wood Market in Minneapolis.

"It's ridiculous," echoed a clerk at a Holiday convenience store in Plymouth, who said ticket sales have about doubled since the pot hit $700 million.

Just how much is $1.2 billion? If you got it all in $100 bills and stacked them, they'd reach more than 4,000 feet high, or about four times the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Nicholas LeFlem was trying to get his share of that stack Tuesday. He hit the Midnite Market in Hopkins for a few tickets, then headed off on his scooter to buy more tickets at other stores, spreading his luck around.

"You never know where it's going to pop, right?" LeFlem said.

Powerball is played in 44 states as well as in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current jackpot is the second-highest in the game's 30-year history, said Emily Frost, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Lottery.

Minnesotans have cashed 22 winning Powerball tickets over the years, she said, with the biggest winner taking home $229 million. The odds of winning Wednesday's drawing, she added, are about one in 292 million.

"It's $2 a ticket and it only takes one, so have fun!" she added.

Throughout the metro area — and almost certainly the state — streams of people exited the 3,000 locations that sell lottery tickets, tucking the precious slips of paper in their pockets or purses. Winning the prize requires matching five white balls out of 69 and one red ball out of 26.

The drawing will be held at 9:59 p.m. Wednesday and can be watched live online at powerball.com. If there's a winner, they would have the option for a lump-sum cash payment expected to be $596.7 million. If no one wins, the next drawing is Saturday, and the pot would continue to grow.

Jenn Schleifer of Bloomington isn't a regular lottery player, but she jumps into the Powerball "sometimes, when it gets big."

"It's just like buying a dream for a day," she said. "I can think about it all day tomorrow. That's the fun part — other than winning."