UPDATE [8 a.m.]: Saturday night's winning Powerball numbers were 8, 12, 13, 19 and 27 with the Powerball being 4.
ORIGINAL STORY: That record $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot may be off the board, but there's another big prize stepping up to stoke lottery fever.
The estimated jackpot for Saturday night’s Powerball lottery is $750 million, fourth-largest in U.S. lottery history, according to the Powerball website.
The chance at such a windfall could soon entice lottery players to start standing in lines to buy tickets, a familiar sight in Georgia when that Mega Millions prize was in play.
So, despite the odds of about 292.2 million to 1 against winning the jackpot, there should be another winner — Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship.
Profit for the scholarship jumped $34 million during the recent Mega Millions hysteria, according to Channel 2 Action News.
"I was a HOPE recipient when I first started college,” Georgia State student Bianca Walker said. “It definitely helped a lot.”
The scholarship, which was created in 1993, provides money to help students with the educational costs of attending a HOPE-eligible college in Georgia, according to the website.
That’s motivation for some people to put money on the line despite the overwhelming odds against winning.
"You want to win,” said Edward Willis, a regular lottery player at the Flat Shoals Food Mart in Decatur. “But you know you're putting money in to help education."
The next chance to cash in, as well as help the scholarship recipients, is Saturday night. The Powerball drawing can be seen right before Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat at 11 p.m.
“If people want to spend their money like that and it goes to a good cause also,” said Walker, the Georgia State student, “why not?"
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