Crossing State Lines For Powerball

Now that the Powerball jackpot is up to $150 million, people around the country - in states that allow lotteries - are lining up to buy Saturday night's Powerball tickets.

New Yorkers are going to Connecticut, and some North Dakotans are even making a quick stop in Minnesota - to snap up lottery tickets.

Deanna Kubas of West Fargo was in the M-and-H gas station in Moorhead yesterday. Minnesota's state lottery office says the store sells more Powerball tickets than any of Minnesota's 32-hundred lottery retailers.

It's a hot spot because it's only a few blocks from Fargo. And North Dakota doesn't have a state lottery.

Kubas was buying tickets for 12 people. She says the group would split the money -- if any of them hit the big one.

She says the jackpot would help them pay off their homes and vehicles -- and pay college tuition for their kids.

People from Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are crossing the border into Delaware to buy tickets, because Powerball isn't offered in those states, says state lottery director Wayne Lemons.

State lottery officials in New Hampshire expect to sell seven times as many Powerball tickets as usual Saturday night.

Lottery Commission Director Rick Wisler said New Hampshire had sold $2.5 million in tickets by Thursday, and he expects that to grow to $3.5 million by Saturday night's 10:00 p.m. deadline.

Usually, the jackpot hovers around $25 million and New Hampshire sells about $500,000 worth of tickets.

The largest Powerball jackpot ever won was $295.7 million in July of 1998.

In Powerball, players choose five white numbered balls from a pool of 49 and a red Powerball from a pool of 42 numbers. The game is overseen by the Multi-State Lottery Association, based in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Powerball is played in 20 states (and District of Columbia): Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin.