Utahns cross state line to buy $1 billion Powerball jackpot numbers
Jul 19, 2023, 6:30 PM | Updated: 6:56 pm
MALAD, Idaho —A $1 billion jackpot has Utahns headed across the state line to cure their Powerball fever.
The jackpot crossed the $1 billion threshold for just the third time in history ahead of Wednesday’s drawing.
You can’t buy tickets in Utah so people are trying their luck at gas stations just across the state line in Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.
There has been a constant stream of people getting their tickets in Malad, Idaho all Wednesday.
(KSL TV)
Your odds of winning are about one in 292 million.
Yes, there is still a chance.
“If I play there’s a chance. If I don’t play there’s no chance,” Cheeri Bitton laughed. “I’m hoping to win and be able to pay off all my kids’ bills and set them up with a house and a car,” she said as she laid out her plans for the jackpot.
Terid Yazzie said, “Some townhomes for people, yeah. Homeless people and people who need a place to stay.”
We’ve all thought about what we would do with the cash.
“Just help family,” Carcaure Castillo said. “Most things about family you know.”
Before you give to others in this case, you’ve got to beat those horrible odds.
People line up to buy Powerball tickets at a gas station in Malad, Idaho. (KSL TV)
“It’s good to think that we’re in on it, you know what I mean?” Scott Bushnell said.
The big drawing is at 9 p.m. If no one wins, the next jackpot will be an estimated $1.3 billion.
No one has won Powerball since April 19, when a ticket in Ohio brought a prize of $252.6 million.
Wednesday night’s billion-dollar Powerball drawing – combined with a Mega Millions jackpot that keeps growing – means some lucky winners could become millionaires even if they don’t hit the jackpot.
No one hit all six numbers in Tuesday night’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing: 19, 22, 31, 37, 54 with a mega ball of 18.
That means the jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth an estimated $720 million, with a cash value of $369.6 million.
