STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin tonight with a game of chance and a shot at instant wealth and probably fame, too. In less than one hour lottery officials in Des Moines, Iowa will hold the Powerball jackpot drawing. Tonight's prize is expected to exceed $280 million. Powerball is played in more than 20 states, and hopefuls bought tickets in record numbers today.</s>QUESTION: You must know the odds are just fabulously against you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the thrill of it. You're always behind the eight ball. You got to get ahead of it.</s>QUESTION: You can't resist it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I can't.</s>FRAZIER: Others agree. Ticket sales topped $100,000 per hour at times today, the heaviest sales in Indianapolis.</s>QUESTION: You know you have a greater chance of having a wreck out on the highway on the way here than you do of winning this thing?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What else is new? I have a greater chance of doing -- getting hit by lightning, too.</s>FRAZIER: The odds: 80 million to one against winning, lottery officials pointed out, reminding people the game is an evening's entertainment, not an investment strategy. $280 million would be paid out over years. An instant payout would be $163 million.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the machine do it. It knows better than I do. No magic to it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm choosing birthdays.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I've been playing these particular cards right here for about five years now. And I haven't changed them and I won't change them.</s>FRAZIER: Town officials in Greenwich, Connecticut suspended ticket sales for a time, overwhelmed by New Yorkers who don't have Powerball crossing the state line to buy tickets. Retailers were furious at the income that cost them. They get a nickel per ticket. Sales resume today.
Numerous Americans Play Powerball Despite Daunting Odds