PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A record jackpot has a lot of people buying Powerball tickets, and officials raised the jackpot to $500 million on Tuesday.

At Smithfield News in Downtown Pittsburgh, a steady group of customers bought $2 Powerball tickets on Monday.

“I got the winning ticket right here, $425 million,” said one customer.

As of Sunday, Pennsylvanians had spent $58 million on Powerball.

That means $17 million for senior citizen programs. And that number could double before the winning ticket is drawn at 11 p.m. on Wednesday.

Powerball is a multi-state lottery run in 33 states, which means the winner can come from almost anywhere; and when Powerball doubled its ticket price to $2, the dollars in the jackpot skyrocketed to record levels.

Brian Weiss owns the Smithfield News and says such a jackpot is attracting new players.

“Everyone wants to take a shot at that $425 million,” said Weiss. “People that normally wouldn’t buy a ticket are coming in to take a chance, even though they’re $2 now, not a dollar. But they’re still coming in to take a chance, and hit that $425 million jackpot.”

And it gives everyone a chance to dream of what they’d do with that money.

“If I win I’m going to buy me a house for my grandkids,” said one person.

“Take care of the family, donate some money,” added another.

“Buy a mansion, a couple Ferraris, Bentleys,” said another person buying tickets.

So, what are your odds of becoming a multi-millionaire on Wednesday?

Try one in 175,223,510 – not exactly great odds.

But still for players…

“They have that hope and that dream and what would they do with all that money, and it’s a good feeling,” said Weiss.

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