Jan. 13--Lines continues to form Wednesday evening with just hours to go before tonight's $1.5-billion Powerball drawing.
As of this afternoon, at least 14% of all possible number combinations have yet to be purchased, according to lottery officials.
Just 86% of all potential winning sequences had been selected by ticket purchasers, according to Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California State Lottery. As a result, it remains possible that the drawing will fail to produce a winner, just like 19 drawings that have occurred since Nov. 7.
If nobody wins the grand prize Wednesday, Traverso said the jackpot for the next drawing likely will reach $2 billion.
Although the odds of winning the jackpot are ridiculously slim -- 1 in 292 million -- Powerball dreamers began lining up outside the Bluebird Liquor store in Hawthorne before sunrise. By the time store owner James Kim opened, some 60 people were waiting in line to purchase the $2 tickets.
"This is exciting. I hope we have a winner today," he said.
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In order to win the grand prize, players must match five numbers between 1 and 69 and then a sixth number between 1 and 26. The drawings occur every Wednesday and Saturday in the 44 states and three U.S. territories that participate.
The Powerball jackpot starts at $40 million and continues to grow until the grand prize finds a winner. It has never reached this size or set off such a public frenzy.
The fever surrounding the game has reignited debate about whether it is a harmless form of entertainment, or something darker that plays unfairly on the hopes of low-income ticket buyers. Critics say it erodes the ability of the poor to save money and offers little in return.
"They're playing this to try and get back to some status ... and see this as their best chance of doing so," Cornell University economist David Just said. But the chances of coming out a big winner are "astronomically low."
Lottery officials argue the odds are beside the point.
"The tickets are $2 and serve a purpose, if it's their entertainment," Traverso said. "Ultimately, the bottom line -- if they have $2 in their pockets and this is what they like to do, then that's what they're going to do."
Lottery supporters say that the money goes to a good cause -- education funding -- and that players come from all walks of life.
Studies commissioned by the California Lottery show that the income distribution of players closely reflects the makeup of California.
Lottery players are "vastly similar to California's population, in terms of demographics," Traverso said.
Duke University economist Charles Clotfelter, co-author of the book "Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America," said looking at the demographics of players without considering how much each group spends is misguided. Low-income lottery players end up spending a greater percentage of their wages than people of greater means.
Times staff writers Ruben Vives and Paloma Esquivel contributed to this report.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.
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