Manitobans line up to win $1.4B Powerball jackpot
'Half of Canada' came down to enter Powerball draw, North Dakota gas station employee jokes
Manitobans are crossing the U.S. border to try their luck at winning more than a billion dollars, the world's largest lottery jackpot.
Over the weekend "about half of Canada" drove down to buy Powerball tickets, joked Lee Johnson, an employee at Gastrak in Pembina, N.D. The top prize was at $1.4 billion on Tuesday morning.
"Yesterday was crazy in here. We pretty much had a small lineup all day long," he said.
Powerball draws take place every Wednesay and Saturday, at 9:59 p.m. CT. Lottery officials determine the winning six numbers by drawing five white balls from a drum of 69 balls and one red ball from a drum of 26 balls.
Many of the Manitoban gamblers asked questions about how the Powerball game works, said Johnson.
"They're used to the 6/49, which has packages. We don't have packages, just whatever amounts you want," he said.
Powerball tickets sell for $2, or $3 with the Power Play add-on, which multiplies all winnings except the top two prizes.
"You got a better chance of being hit by lightning … but for two bucks, what the heck," Johnson said.
If Powerball reaches one billion dollars, it will be larger than annual GDP of about 20 countries. <a href="https://t.co/cFssdRqPbd">https://t.co/cFssdRqPbd</a>
—@cbctomNobody won the powerball... So I assume time travel will never happen?
—@850smege