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CNN Live At Daybreak

Powerball Jackpot Reaches $200 Million

Aired August 22, 2001 - 08:26   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, you could be day tripping, night tripping, you could be tripping all week long for the rest of your life if you win the Powerball -- $200 million plus, that's what they're expecting it's going to reach today.

And Christian Farr from our CNN affiliate WTXF joins us from exciting Wilmington, Delaware, where people are already lined up at a 7-11 -- Christian.

CHRISTIAN FARR WTXF-TV REPORTER: Well, it's very exciting when people can be $200 million richer or even more, and we've got a lot of people on line here waiting to buy tickets, waiting to see if they're going to be the $200 million winner.

And, ma'am, I see you got a lot of money in your hand there, buying a lot of tickets?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

FARR: What are you going to do with this money if you win?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything I want.

FARR: Anything you want.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

FARR: What's so great about this? I mean tons of people in line, people since 5:30 in the morning I've been seeing out here picking up tickets. What's so great about it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A free chance to do anything that you want in the world.

FARR: And is that what you're going to do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

FARR: Fantastic. Thanks a lot for talking to us.

And you can see a lot of people out here. There are a lot of lines out here in Delaware. This is going on in 21 states, including the District of Columbia, so not only here can they win in Delaware, they can win in Indiana as well as other places. Two hundred million is what we're hearing, possibly even more than that. You may be able to take it over the 25 year annuity or take the $110 million cash out. That means you get it right before taxes, but it's a quite bit more money than you probably have in your bank account right now. And as you can see, a lot of people out here, people telling us that they are going to buy cars for their friends and family, buy houses, do whatever, splurge as much as they possibly can.

And we even at Fox News went out and bought some tickets for ourselves, and we're hoping that we may also win that $200 million and possibly split it amongst ourselves -- Carol.

LIN: Christian, I'm wondering why is everybody so quiet there? Nobody wants to talk about their strategy. Have you -- have you overhead any tips or how people are choosing their numbers?

FARR: We haven't heard a strategy yet because you know here it's 80 million to 1 that people can win. And what the Delaware lottery is telling us down here is that it doesn't make a difference if you pick your own numbers or if you get the computer to do it, you've got the same chances to win. So it's not a heck of a whole lot of strategies going on down here, it's just keeping your fingers crossed, praying and a whole lot of luck.

LIN: You bet. All right.

Thanks so much, Christian. Good luck to everybody out there and especially to you.

FARR: Thank you.

LIN: And I read this morning that 23 people actually picked five winning numbers but nobody got the Powerball number on Saturday...

MCEDWARDS: Oh no.

LIN: ... so they came that close.

MCEDWARDS: I bet they're trying again. I have a feeling.

Well, if you're not in one of the participating states, grab your loose change and head to the nearest Powerball location. What's a few dollars in gas when 200 million bucks is at stake?

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