AMBLER, Pa. (AP) 鈥 Brenda Sepulveda stopped Friday at a suburban Philadelphia convenience store to buy lottery tickets as the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots soared to some of their heftiest in the history of the games.
鈥淚 think that people are drawn to this kind of lottery because we all hope and pray that we might be the lucky one, that maybe we weren鈥檛 born into wealth, but you never know," she said, as she dreamed of paying off student loans, and her and her mother's cars.
The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday night鈥檚 drawing has grown to $560 million, with a cash option of $281.1 million. That's the it has ever been.
Meanwhile, the Powerball jackpot for Saturday鈥檚 drawing has grown to an estimated $875 million 鈥 the third-highest. Ticket buyers have a chance at either $875 million paid out in yearly increments or a $441.9 million one-time lump sum before taxes.
Yet the games have raised concerns among some experts. Their 鈥 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball 鈥 are designed to build big prizes that draw more players.
The largest Powerball jackpot was last November.
But the last time someone won the Powerball jackpot was for a $252.6 million prize. And there hasn鈥檛 been a Mega Millions jackpot winner since April 18.
Lia Nower, a professor and the director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, said the lottery has historically acted as a regressive tax on the poor, meaning the people that can least afford to lose their money buy the most tickets.
She said her 鈥渃oncern with lottery is really more people who are buying it every day or two or three times a week" as opposed to those who purchase one ticket as the jackpot nears $1 billion.
And those frequent buyers were pouring into a store in Crystal, Minnesota, said clerk Elias Harv.
鈥淟ike, it's never been before like this,鈥 Harv said. 鈥淭hey come two to three times a day.鈥
鈥淓verybody has his own dream," he added.
Back at the convenience store in the Philadelphia suburb of Ambler, Barbara Green had no illusions she would nab the top prize. But still she couldn't resist the possibility.
鈥淓verybody has hope, so if I get a little bit, I鈥檓 satisfied,鈥 she said, laughing. 鈥淚鈥檓 not getting the big thing, I know that, but I like to get a little bit of it. Everybody does.鈥
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This story has been updated to correct the day of the week Brenda Sepulveda bought lottery tickets. She purchased them Friday, not Thursday.
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Mark Vancleave contributed to this report from Crystal, Minnesota.
