In last night's (Oct. 18) Powerball drawing, no single ticket had the numbers that matched the numbers drawn. That means the Powerball jackpot will follow the lead of the Mega Millions jackpot from Tuesday night. Both multi-state lottery games have huge payout potential that is only going to be getting larger.

The estimated jackpot for Saturday night's Powerball is $430,000 million. The Mega Millions jackpot is as large as it has ever been. It's estimated to be $900 million or more by the time the balls drop on Friday night.

Needless to say, South Louisiana has developed its own case of lottery fever. I spoke with a clerk at the Circle K on Eraste Landry Road and she told me they are seeing a lot of first-time players. Or at least players who are not regular Powerball or Mega Millions players.

You can tell they're new to the games because they don't know what the Powerplay is or the Megaplier is. They don't understand how to pick their own numbers either.

I usually just let the computer generate my random numbers whenever I play Powerball or Mega Millions. But I can see how some people have their lucky numbers and with almost $1.3 billion dollars on the line, I can see why having luck would be a good thing.

One other suggestion from our friendly Circle K clerk,

Don't wait until the last minute to buy your tickets. We have to stop selling tickets an hour before the drawing, it's the rule. So don't expect me to sell you a ticket ten minutes before the drawing, I can't do it.

The cutoff for ticket sales is 8:59 Central time on any day the Powerball or Mega Millions game is played. If you do choose to play, we hope you'll play responsibly and good luck.

 

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