GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tonight is the big night as people are placing their bets on the 1.72 billion dollar Powerball drawing.
Some people put their odds on whatever computer-generated numbers come out, others have lucky numbers and their own roadmap to coming up with what could be the final list of numbers that roll out.
There are some things to know ahead of the big drawing.
Your odds might be better on a scratch-off ticket if you're looking to make some money. The odds of winning the 1.72 billion dollars are one in 292.2 million.
Victor Matheson, an Economics Professor at the College of the Holy Cross, said it's important to put this into perspective.
"A typical person, who is a golfer, would have about a one in 15,000 chance of making a hole-in-one on a particular hole, so winning a big win in the Powerball or the Mega millions is like getting to two holes in ones in a row when playing golf," said Matheson.
In this case, if you want to win any money, your odds at scratch-off tickets can be much higher.
The North Carolina Education Lottery posts the value of the prizes for each scratch-off game and how many remaining winners are out there.
You can scroll down through the entire list of scratch-offs to see which ones look the best to you and what look at what your best odds are.
One with a large amount of prize money and the most remaining tickets right now would be Jumbo Bucks. At last glance, there are 5 tickets with a million-dollar prize floating around the state, so your odds are better because there are more winners and one in 1.4 million wins.
Your odds with that certain scratch ticket are much higher there than with other scratch-off tickets of the same price.
It's also good to note that new scratch-off tickets come out every first Tuesday of the month.
There is still the thrill though of thinking about winning the cash value of $756.6 million from this Powerball, and it has people still reaching for that two-dollar ticket.
People have been rushing to buy tickets because it is the second-largest lottery, which you might ask yourself, why have there been so many historic jackpots?
"Number one, it's now a nationwide lottery, so everyone everywhere in the country can buy this, which means there's a lot of people contributing to the jackpot and the second thing they've done is they've made these tickets not just a dollar, but $2, which means the jackpot grows twice as fast as it did a decade ago, and the third thing they've done is they've made it harder to win that jackpot," Matheson explained.
These big jackpots are happening more often. Of the 10 largest U.S. lotteries, six 6 have all come within the last year.
Only five states don't have the lottery: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. This means more people are in the game because so many states have allowed it.
We caught up with some folks who bought a ticket and the lists were endless of items they could buy.
"I'd probably buy my mom a car, and my dad's been wanting a jeep and he's been looking at like a 10,000 dollar jeep from like 2004 and I am like 'Dad, what are you doing, like let's go get a 65,000 dollar brand new jeep,'" said Austin Hamilton. "I would donate to like churches and stuff and charity and whatnot, give like a percent of that and then I'd get stuff for my sisters, I have two sisters so whatever they want, I'd be like you want a car, do you want a house, let's go get it."
His friend Matt Onuska, said he would buy more tickets to try and double his money and also put it into investments.
Both of them also suggested getting someone to manage your finances before spending the money, so you don't blow through it.
Even if you don't win, you're helping our education system. Across North Carolina last year, the lottery raised 929 million dollars for education.
That's almost tripled since 2007 and under the guidance of the North Carolina General Assembly, about half of the lottery money goes to school construction. and more than a third is used to pay school staff.
Guilford County alone received 33 million last year.
On the lucky chance you take home that big prize, you might want to weigh your options at what numbers to choose.
Currently, your luckiest ones to pick are number 61 which was drawn 90 times, number 32 which was drawn 89 times, 63 and 21 which were drawn 86 times, and 36 which was drawn 84 times
Remember, if you choose those numbers, your odds are likely the same.