Trekking To Try Hand At Powerball

Powerball is proving to be a powerful pull for many players from states that don't even have it.

Many hopefuls who'd driven long distances to take part

Axelrod saw many an early-bird dropping by a newsstand to gobble up tickets Wednesday morning in the tony New York suburb of Greenwich, Conn.

And since 60 percent of Powerball tickets are sold on the day of the drawing, the astronomical jackpot assures long lines of buyers Wednesday in all 27 states that offer it, Axelrod said.

In Greenwich, many of the players Axelrod chatted with had come from far and wide, prompting him to quip, "Never have so many driven so far to spend so much in an inconspicuous little newsstand in Connecticut."

He said they made the trip from two densely populated non-Powerball states, New York and New Jersey. So, Axelrod kiddingly suggested, "Maybe the next slogan oughta be, 'A dollar, a dream, and a 50 dollar tank of gas.' "

Ray Acevedo, of Irvington, N.J., drove two hours to Greenwich to buy 100 tickets.

"What the heck," he told Axelrod. "You gotta be in it to win it."

That's the New York lottery's slogan and, Axelrod said, "I've heard that once or twice."

The chances of hitting the jackpot are 1 in 146 million, Axelrod said. But that's really not the point for many of the folks he spoke with.

Gilbert Williams' trip to Greenwich took an hour and a half. For what? "A dream. We could hope. That's all," he said, laughing.

In Minnesota, the state lottery commission is running public service announcements on media outlets, "encouraging all Powerball players to dream about winning, to spend a dollar or two at your favorite retailer, but to play responsibly."

In Connecticut, Axelrod said, even the lottery people were busy pooling their own money to buy tickets.

"In our office, we collected $5 from everybody," Diane Patterson says. "And we're sending someone to Rhode Island to buy tickets for us. … We can't buy in Connecticut, but we can buy in Rhode Island," resulting in even more long-distance driving.

If there's no winner Wednesday night, the jackpot goes up another $ 25 million to $365 million.