There is something about several hundred million dollars that will get the attention of people. Powerball lottery officials have noticed an even larger than anticipated increase in ticket sales since last Saturday. This has lead officials with the Powerball to raise their projections of what they believe the ultimate payout might be by the time ticket sales are halted tonight.

The revised figure raises the original estimate of $400 million dollars for tonight's drawing to an estimated $450 million dollars. For those of you who like to dream in lump sum payouts that is a check for $244.8 million dollars with your name on it.

The Powerball jackpot is an estimate, based on what they think sales will be for that drawing.

That's what Louisiana Lottery spokesperson Kate Chopin told the Louisiana Radio Network about the revision in the Powerball top prize. Chopin says sales of Powerball have been rather brisk over the past week.

Right now we're looking at sales for the week, last week, of $3.6 million dollars, and that's just for Powerball alone.

Chopin reminds players to play responsibly and to make sure they sign the back of their tickets. She also had this word of advice for office pools and groups of players who like to pool their money to purchase tickets as a group.

Make sure you keep really good accurate records as to who's in the pot, how much they've contributed, and have a good idea how you want to split up that money should you win any prize in Powerball

You'd hate for most of lottery winnings to go toward paying legal fees.

Tonight's drawing will be held just before 10 PM local time.  Remember by law ticket sales must be cut off at least 59 minutes before the drawing takes place. Some states mandate that ticket sales end even sooner than that so ask your lottery retailer for specifics details and make sure you get your ticket early if you intend to play.

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