Dreaming of $340 million…

Powerball lottery players scrambled to purchase tickets Wednesday after the jackpot reached a total of $340 million.

Hugh Davis said he will retire from his custodial job at Central High School if he wins the prize.

"I don't care how much I win, even if it's a million, whatever it is, I'm gonna buy me a new house and stay in Cape Girardeau," he said.

Even though the odds of winning Powerball's grand prize is one in 146 million, Davis isn't concerned.

"You got to take a chance," he said. "Anything you do in life is a chance."

Pat Foster, a Missouri Lottery employee, stocked ticket stubs Wednesday morning at the Discount Smoke Shop on Sprigg Street.

"Since this is the biggest jackpot ever, I've been pretty busy," he said. "I handle stores from Perryville to Charleston and every store has been using up a lot of the play stubs."

The Powerball ticket sales at the Discount Smoke Shop have more than doubled in the last two weeks, said Lisa Capone, assistant manager.

People purchased anywhere from a dollar to $250 worth of tickets at the store.

"Ever since it reached the 200-million mark, a lot of people have been coming in here to get tickets," Capone said. "Everyone that walks in that door gets something plus a ticket."

Powerball is played in Missouri plus 26 other states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. Illinois does not participate in Powerball.

Capone said many Illinois residents have traveled across the bridge from Illinois to purchase tickets.

Alvin Ashworth, from Olive Branch, Ill., came to the Discount Smoke Shop on Wednesday to purchase his Powerball ticket.

"I thought I'd try my chances at winning," he said. "If I win, I'd pay off all my bills and help raise my grandkids, and probably get my wife a new van."

He said he'd also spread his winnings to help out as many people as he could.

"Even if I don't know them, I'd want to reach out and help people," Ashworth said.

Hairdresser Michaela Saffold said she has no plans of quitting her job or changing her life if she wins the grand prize.

"I'd stay here in Cape, just because the cost of living is so cheap," she said. "I'd put money aside for my kids to go to college and fix up my apartment."

This is the first time the lottery will institute the Match 5 Bonus Prize, which can boost the payout to second-place winners. The Powerball Match 5 Bonus has been increased to $20 million from Monday's prize of $13 million.

Players who match all five white-ball numbers, but not the red Powerball, would split the $20 million. Each of the second-place winners would still receive the $200,000 fixed prize, said Foster.

"That's only if someone wins the Powerball jackpot," Foster said. If no one wins the Powerball Wednesday, then the jackpot would grow another $25 million.

If the Discount Smoke Shop sells the winning Powerball ticket, Capone and the other employees will receive a nice bonus. The store that sells the winning ticket receives approximately $50,000.

"The plan is to split it amongst all the employees if we sell the winning ticket," she said.

According to the Illinois Lottery web site, the record for American lottery jackpots was $363 million. The pot was won in 2000 for the Big Game, now known as Mega Millions, which is a lottery played in Illinois and 11 other states.

jfreeze@semissourian.com