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Original story: (This post was written by Editor Dawn Aulet.)
By the end of the night Wednesday, some lucky person might be nearly half a billion dollars richer.
The Powerball lottery drawing takes place at 9:59 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 7. To find your nearest Illinois lottery retailer, click here.
Each Powerball ticket cost $2. Players choose five numbers plus a sixth Powerball number. Players matching all six numbers can select an annuitized amount paid out over 29 years or a lump sum payment. For complete details, visit the Powerball website.
Fox News reports, "if Wednesday's jackpot doesn't top $400 million, a single winner choosing the cash option would collect $230.3 million before taxes. But no matter how many people play the game, the odds of matching all six numbers remains 1 in 175.2 million."
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"The record Powerball jackpot was $590.5 million, won in May by an octogenarian of modest means in Florida," CNN reports. "The second-largest jackpot of $587 million was split by two players -- one from Arizona and one from Missouri -- in November 2012."
What would you do with $400 million? Let us know in the comments.
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