Residents Now Have A Chance At Huge Jackpots

Larry Zych of Sebring is ready to retire - as soon as he wins $105 million in Wednesday's Powerball drawing.

With Florida becoming the 30th state to join in the Powerball lottery, Zych and others like him can purchase tickets for a chance at big multimillion jackpots.

Zych made his retirement announcement Monday afternoon as he purchased three $1 Powerball tickets and a few Florida Lotto ones at Jay's Discount Beverage on State Road 17 North, Sebring.

Jay's sold 19 Powerball tickets Sunday and 10 tickets by 12:30 p.m. on Monday, according to manager Bhargav Patel.

Jack Heinzeroth stopped by Jay's to buy lottery tickets, but there will be no Powerball for him.

The Sebring resident doesn't like the long odds to winning a Powerball or Lotto jackpot so he's sticking to playing Cash 3 and Play 4.

"I like to play something I can actually win," he said. Powerball's 30 states are way too many, but people like the big multi-million-dollar jackpots.

The daily games have winnable odds, Heinzeroth said. Winning two or three times a week makes it worthwhile.

The odds of winning the Powerball grand prize are 1 in 195,249,054.

Powerball tickets can be purchased at all Florida Lottery retail sites. The Florida Lottery Web site shows a listing of 33 lottery retailers in Sebring, 22 in Avon Park and 11 in Lake Placid.

Powerball will not replace Florida Lotto or any of the online games, Florida Lottery spokeswoman Shelly Safford said Monday. First-day Powerball ticket sales totaled about 1.5 million.

Sometimes people don't go out on Sunday, so the ticket sales may grow at a good rate especially with the jackpot rolling over, she said.

Vijay Patel, owner of Jayvee Convenience on U.S. 27 south of Sebring, also believes it will take a few days to gauge Powerball's popularity.

"Sunday is one of the slower days; I think we will have a better idea toward the end of the week after people get to know abut it."

The Powerball drawings are held every week at 10:59 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday.

Powerball is played by selecting five numbers from 1 through 59 in the upper play area of the play slip and also selecting one Powerball number from 1 through 39 in the lower play area. The terminal will randomly select numbers for you if you mark the Quick Pick box.

Keith Robinson of Sebring said he's going to give Powerball a try.

If he wins, Robinson said, he will take a vacation.