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CNN Live At Daybreak

Powerball Mania Strikes the Nation

Aired August 22, 2001 - 07:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, $200 million -- that's where the jackpot stands right now for tonight's Powerball lottery drawing. People are packing lottery outlets in 21 states and the District of Columbia to buy tickets.

Now, as CNN's Skip Loescher reports, the odds are high, but so are the dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Connecticut to Oregon, Wisconsin to Louisiana, people in 20 states and the District of Columbia have been queuing up to buy lottery tickets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $200 million. It only takes one to win.

LOESCHER: As tonight's jackpot draws near, even people who don't usually play the lottery have Powerball fever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jackpots that go up attracts me like probably attract many people.

LOESCHER: As more people play, tonight's jackpot gets bigger -- reaching, Lottery officials predict, to more than $200 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Splurge. Retire to Hawaii and goof off the rest of my life.

LOESCHER: But the odds of winning it are long -- very long: 1 in 80 million.

BOB HAINEY, D.C. LOTTERY BOARD: Your chances of winning this jackpot are about as good as being hit by lightning twice on a sunny day.

LOESCHER: And Lottery officials say you have just as good a chance of winning the Powerball jackpot by buying one ticket as you will if you buy 20 or 30 tickets. The odds, they say, just don't change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One -- that's all you need. One ticket, one lotto, one winner.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LOESCHER: Tickets for tonight's drawing will be sold until 9:00 tonight Eastern Time with the winning numbers to be picked two hours later.

Skip Loescher, CNN, reporting live from Washington -- back to you.

PHILLIPS: And, Skip, tell me again how much is that every year if we win? Oh, we -- we lost audio. All right. I believe it's still quite big.

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