No one in Georgia woke up a new multimillionaire, but that shouldn’t stop some people here from testing Lady Luck again Saturday night.
The Powerball jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing is a mind-blowing $356 million.
That’s more than enough to tell your boss ... well, you know.
Hamid Rafie, who works at Akers Mill Food Mart in Cobb County, said Friday night saw a steady stream of ticket-buying customers hoping to win the Mega Millions drawing. It carried an estimated $393 million jackpot, making it the fifth-largest in the game’s history.
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The winning ticket, though, was bought in Illinois. The winning numbers were 23, 33, 53, 56, 58 and the Mega Ball was 6.
The store was quiet early Saturday afternoon.
“A lot of people will probably come in a little later,” said Rafie, who said he always sees ticket sales skyrocket once the jackpot reaches $200 million.
Friday night was the first Mega Millions jackpot winner since April 28.
Not far away, at Graham’s BP station, one man bought several scratchers but said he wasn’t interested in the Powerball.
“It’s still a little early in the day,” said clerk Jose Fuerte.
The Powerball jackpot began rolling Jan. 14 and has rolled 17 times.
One ticket worth $50,000 was sold in Snellville from Wednesday’s drawing. Over 54,000 players in Georgia won more than $302,000 in prizes.
Powerball offers two jackpot payment options: the $356 million jackpot prize paid over 29 years in 30 graduated payments, or the cash option, which is about $224 million.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play.
As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Powerball will benefit education in the state of Georgia.
All the excitement couldn’t convince Kelly Wallace of Winder to plunk down $2 for a ticket.
“I’m good at math,” he said. He said he hasn’t bought a lottery ticket in about two years.
“If I’m going to blow my money, it’s going to be on something that I can enjoy.”
You can watch the Powerball drawing at 11 p.m., right before Channel 2 Action News.
