Racing Against Luck to Score the Jackpot

Tickets soar as people flood gas stations and convenience stores today striving for a chance to win $550 million in the largest Powerball jackpot in history. The odds of an individual ticket winning are estimated to be as low as 1 and 175 million (Yes, that seems to be in my favor). Now it’s time to go out and purchase my prized ticket!

As I sit at my desk and dream about the winning numbers I’ll pick later today, all I see is lottery talk every time I look online. In addition to the some 600 tweets per hour with the hashtag #powerball that were seen by 6 p.m. EST on Tuesday, roughly, 5,000 Instagram users have taken pictures of their tickets and posting them with the hashtag #powerball (which is legal in all 50 states). With the instant usage of technology and the dire need to share anything and everything online, this has become the most widespread lottery ever recorded in social media.

I’ve even updated my status, naturally it’s about the lottery; it currently reads “Odds of being hit by lightening THIS YEAR: 1 in 1 mil. Odds of winning Powerball $550m: 1 in 176 mil,” via Now This is News. With a positive mindset of becoming a millionaire when I win later today, I’m already beginning to break a sweat at the thought of it. My palms are sweaty – maybe I should cut back on my intake of coffee today (then again, who am I kidding). In reality, there is a chance that I could possibly be that lucky person. Just think of all those previous winners, such as, those two friends that won the Mega Millions Jackpot in September 2012 after playing together for 25 years. I better call my bestie right now, looks like we have many years ahead of us! That reminds me, I may have to rethink that statement because a South Carolina woman’s friend stole her ticket after she told a few friends about her lucky $500 ticket. When I do win today, I think the best idea will be to keep my mouth shut just as that one Chicago couple did when they won $30 million in the Illinois lottery; they didn’t even tell their kids! I’ve always been a great secret keeper – it shouldn’t be hard because I always lock the door and throw away the key.

Then again, why keep such a blessing a secret? The whole world should know how lucky I will be. Winning makes me wonder how many Facebook friends I’ll gain because of it. Anyway, I wish the best of luck to all those people out there gambling against luck (I’ll be sure to wave hi to all my loved ones when they show the winner on TV).

Cover Photo Source: Claire P. via Flickr

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nicole.png[/author_image] [author_info]Nicole Hernandez is the Social Media Manager at SJG. She’s a Chicagoan who graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Public Relations & Advertising and minor in Journalism. Nicole is known to her peers as being online all the time – while in her spare time you can find her taking footage on her phone as she’s rocking out at music festivals. She’s also training to be the new water girl at Chicago Bulls games (in her dreams). [/author_info] [/author]