WASHINGTON - Lottery fever gripped the United States on Wednesday ahead of a Powerball drawing with an estimated jackpot of $500 million, the second highest in the nation's history.
Nobody has won the semi-weekly Powerball, available in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands, since October 6, swelling the kitty for whoever holds the winning six-number combination.
With Wednesday's drawing set for 10:59 pm eastern time (0359 GMT), the odds of winning stood at one in 175.2 million, compared to the one in a million chance of being struck by lightning in a given year.
In the state of Maryland alone, Powerball wagers, or combinations of numbers, were being sold for $2 each at a dizzying rate of 158 per second on Wednesday morning.
"That will go up, obviously, as the day goes on," Carole Everett, communications director for the Maryland state lottery, told AFP by telephone from Baltimore.
The biggest jackpot in US lottery history, $640 million, was claimed by MegaMillions players in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland who all held tickets bearing the same winning number.
Lottery winnings in the United States, unlike those in Europe, are subject to taxation. Winners typically get a choice between an annuity spread over many years or a reduced amount paid out in a lump sum.