LOTTOMANIA: POWERBALL: `WILL BE THE BIGGEST FLUKE IN HISTORY'

Hordes of strike-it-rich dreamers in 14 states and the District of Columbia lined up for a 1-in-55 million shot at a $100 million jackpot in tonight's Powerball drawing.

The jackpot is the largest ever offered in Missouri and the fourth largest ever offered in the United States.

Terminals shut down at 7:59 tonight; no one will be able to buy a ticket afterwards.

A single jackpot winner in the Powerball drawing will receive approximately $5 million before taxes each year for 20 years. After taxes, that amount would be $3.4 million.

Charles Felter of Cape Girardeau knows it's long odds. "It's like lightning striking you," he said. "If I ever win it, it will be the biggest fluke in history."

Still, that didn't prevent Felter, who works for the physical plant department at Southeast Missouri State University, from spending a couple of bucks on Powerball tickets Tuesday at Del Farm supermarket in Cape Girardeau.

Felter knows how he would spend all that dough if he wins the giant jackpot. "I've got seven kids and in two years I'm retiring."

Felter was one of at least 300 people who visited Del Farm by late Tuesday afternoon to buy Powerball lottery tickets.

John Schenimann of Cape Girardeau bought $2 worth of Powerball tickets, his first ever. "It's just such a big prize if you win," he said.

Schenimann said he didn't feel particularly lucky. "I never do feel lucky," he said.

One elderly woman from Cape Girardeau, who bought lottery tickets Tuesday, refused to give her name. "I feel kind of embarrassed even buying them," she confided.

A Jackson woman who bought a chance to win "the big one" also refused to give her name. "This is kind of a private thing."

Said the woman, "I guess I am a gambler at heart, but I am a conservative gambler."

Gloria Kies, who works at Del Farm, bought two Powerball tickets Tuesday and two Missouri Lotto tickets. Kies, who once won $2,400 from Lotto America the forerunner of Powerball said she only plays "just whenever I feel like buying them."

Charles Hammonds is ready for some good luck. "I just had heart bypass surgery," said the 36-year-old Cape Girardeau resident and father of 4-year-old twins. He said he could use the money.

The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot was May 8, when Roger and Shirley Poliette of Hillsboro won $36.8 million.

In last Saturday's drawing, four players in Missouri won the second-level $100,000 prize and 17 others won the third-place prize of $5,000.

Nearly 120,000 other tickets sold in Missouri were worth $1 to $100.

To play Powerball, a person must select five numbers between 1 and 45, and one additional number between 1 and 45 as the Powerball.

Players can win up to nine ways on Powerball, ranging from $1 to the jackpot. If your Powerball number matches the Powerball number that was drawn, you win a prize. Without the Powerball number, you need at least three of the other five numbers to win a prize.

Powerball is played in Missouri, Iowa, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

"The real winner in this `Lottomania' is education," said Jim Scroggins, executive director of the Missouri Lottery. "Last week total lottery sales came in at $11.2 million, which means we raised nearly $3.4 million for education programs in Missouri." Starting July 1, all Missouri Lottery proceeds benefit education.