ATLANTA — Powerball fever has struck Georgia, as lottery players have come out in droves for thier chance to win a record jackpot of $1.4 billion.
Under Georgia law, lottery winners' names are broadcast and published for transparency reasons. But that can be problematic for some winners who would rather remain anonymous.
That's one reason state Sen. Josh McKoon will try again to pass a bill that would allow winners to keep their names quiet.
“We last year introduced this as a way for people who might receive a big jackpot to be able to, you know, get some anonymity and not have long lost relatives come out of the woodwork after you win a big jackpot,” McKoon told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
[READ: 7-time lottery winner shares tips for winning Powerball]
But that anonymity would come with a hefty price tag: 25 percent of your winnings. For the $1.4 billion jackpot, that would mean you would have to pay $350 million.
McKoon told Elliot that number is negotiable.
Elliot asked lottery players Shell and Jacoby Smith what they thought of the proposed bill. Shell said she'd pay any price to stay anonymous.
“I want that to stay secretly. I wouldn't want nobody to know,” Shell said.
Jacoby said he'd want everyone to know.
“I'm going to be right there in front of that camera just like this with these same tickets right here talking about I won, man,” Jacoby said.
Are the odds in your favor?
Mathematicians are not surprised the Powerball jackpot continues to roll over, which is why customers continue to swarm stores to buy their tickets.
No equation is safe around Dr. Lew Lefton. The Georgia Tech mathematician says the reason why nobody has hit the Powerball jackpot is simple: Nobody matched all six numbers.
Lefton said lottery merchants will never sell every possible combination of numbers for any one drawing.
"I just don't think that's even possible. Although they might sell that many tickets, the likelihood of missing a number is very significant." Lefton told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen.
[READ: Which Powerball numbers have hit most often?]
But many Powerball players believed that despite those dreadful odds of 1 in 292 million, somebody surely should have won by now considering the very long lines over the last week as the current jackpot jumped to more than $1 billion.
"The Lord was waiting for me to play. That's why it didn't happen," said player Robert Gaston.
But in the same breath, Gaston couldn't believe every combination of numbers wasn't picked. Lefton said he knows better.
"They could sell that many tickets, but the reality is it's human beings buying the tickets," Lefton said.
[READ: Payoff for Georgia lottery players has been big]
Lefton told Petersen that human beings tend to pick odd numbers, birthdays and the numbers one through 31.
He has no advice to help you win it, but does have a tip so you don't have to split it.
"And so, if you play even numbers above 32, you're less likely to share the jackpot. But, you're still not going to win. Because 292,000,000 is a huge number," Lefton said.
Lefton said there is some good news: You won't lose unless you play.
How you would stack up to other rich Georgians
Powerball fever has some Georgians dreaming about being the richest person in the state.
The fact is, they wouldn't be close.
The current jackpot, especially after taxes, gets a winner nowhere near the wealth of local movers and shakers like Arthur Blank, Ted Turner or Bernie Marcus.
"Chances are you can still squeak by on $450 million or $500 million," said Jennifer Brett, entertainment reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "You can squeak by but you're nowhere near among the richest. You still have something to strive for."
A unique problem
Georgia Lottery signs across metro Atlanta are now displaying the accurate Powerball jackpot: $1.4 billion.
Lottery officials ran into that problem when the Powerball reached uncharted territory over the weekend when no one won the $900 million jackpot Saturday night.
All of their signs ran only into the millions, so a lot of the signs read only $999 million.
Lottery officials and technicians figured out Monday how to change the electronic billboards to accurately reflect the correct jackpot number, placing what looks like a sticky-note over the "M" with a "B" on it.
[READ: Quick Pick or not; your odds]
Lottery officials say Powerball has generated $66 million in sales in Georgia so far.
That translates to $27 million for the HOPE scholarship and Georgia pre-kindergarten programs.
“So one great thing about the Georgia Lottery is whenever a jackpot gets this big, $1.4 billion, it helps generate revenue for the state of Georgia and our education,” said Georgia Lottery spokesman John Crow.
There are 26 electronic Georgia Lottery billboards across Georgia and while they won't all be getting the pasted on "B" for billion, they will get the digital fix so they can post the accurate jackpot.
A $1 million Georgia Powerball ticket was sold in Lawrenceville.
The ticket was sold at Simonton Shell on New Hope Road.
The winner matched the first five winning numbers but not the Powerball, according to Georgia Lottery officials.
Initially, Saturday's jackpot was $675 million before growing to $900 million on Saturday evening. It currently stands at $1.4 billion.
It started out at $40 million on Nov. 4. Powerball is played twice a week.
The new jackpot is the largest of any lottery game in U.S. history.
WJAX
