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Powerball fever: Picking numbers and dreaming big

The Midlands has a history of big lottery wins, and people are hoping it will happen again.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lottery ticket sales are at a high in South Carolina as people play for the $1.6 billion jackpot.

Jimmy's Mart off Two Notch Road in Columbia, has a history of people buying winning lottery tickets from their small store. Jimmy's had three winners in less than a month last year which has made people believe the store could be lucky.

Several people were there Friday, hoping to get their names on that list of winners.

"It's been extremely busy today, extremely. I've been here since 10:30 and it's been nonstop," said clerk Cheryl Jacobs.

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This $1.6 billion is a record-breaking prize and the largest in lottery history. Which, Holli Armstrong with the South Carolina Education Lottery says has gotten a lot of people excited to play.

"Here in South Carolina, for Thursday we sold about $1.3 million in Powerball tickets, which is close to what we typically sell for lottery tickets in an entire week," Armstrong said.

Money collected from lottery sales goes toward education, and with these Powerball sales, this could bring up to $10 million in scholarships.

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Armstrong said they are continuing to encourage people to play responsibly. She says it only takes one ticket to win, so she encouraged people not to feel like they have to buy several.

Right now, there is a 1 in 292,201,338 chance of winning this mega jackpot.

The next drawing for the Powerball jackpot will be on Saturday at 11 p.m.

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