On Monday, Americans lined up to buy Powerball lottery tickets. The Powerball jackpot is now a record high $1.9 billion.
The lottery drawing on Saturday was the 40th in a row without a winner. The jackpot grows larger each time there is no winner of the top prize. To win the top prize, a lottery ticket must match all six of the numbers drawn.
If someone wins the next draw, they can choose a lump sum payment of $929 million in cash or payments for the next 29 years.
The chances of winning a jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
After the drawing on Saturday, many people tried to check their lottery tickets on the Powerball.com website. The website had so many visitors that it crashed.
Greg Spencer, a retired truck driver from the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, wants to be the next winner. He bought two $2 tickets for the next drawing. “I usually buy just one. I’m doubling my odds,” he said.
Spencer says that if he wins, he wants to travel the world.
The previous record for a Powerball jackpot was in 2016. The $1.586 billion jackpot was split amongst three winners.
VOCABULARY
- Line up – to stand in a line or row; form a queue/line; arrange people or things in a row
- Lottery (lotto) – a contest/game where players buy tickets and have a random and low chance of winning
- Jackpot – the top prize in a game or contest
- Record – the most or least ever; the highest level ever; achieved for the first time
- Drawing – the action/process of selecting the winner or winners in a lottery or raffle
- in a row – something happening a number of times, one after the other; consecutively; in succession
- Lump sum – an amount of money paid all at once; money in single large payment
- Payment – the act of paying or being paid a sum of money; installment; premium
- Chances – a possibility of something happening; odds;
- Crash – a sudden failure that stops a computer or electronic device; to stop working/functioning
- Retired – finished your career; stopped working; usually 60 years old or older
- Suburbs – a residential area outside or around a city; the area between a city and countryside
- Double – two times more; 2x
- Odds – the likelihood/possibility that a particular thing will or will not happen; chances
- Previous – coming or occurring before something else; existing before in time or order; preceding
- Split – to divide into two or more parts; break something into several parts
Original story from Reuters below:
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