Powerball jackpot jumps to estimated $925 million after no tickets won Wednesday night's grand prize (2024)

*** play of chance. Tonight's mega millions. Jackpot is an estimated *** new tonight. $207 million. Now let's see if I can make you *** millionaire tonight and the chance to dream. I would like to be *** billionaire. I want to win that lottery in there. If I win, I'll probably uh take *** vacation, retire, buy *** house and probably *** boat. But the lottery is more than fantasies of egregious wealth. So why do we have lotteries are extremely old mechanisms of raising money for government. That date back. Israeli is the 15th century Jonathan Cohen is the author of $4 and *** dream state lotteries in modern America. He says the precise origins of the lottery are unknown. It's tough because the evidence is sort of mixed. There's some evidence, I'm not really convinced of it that like *** lottery was used to fund the construction of the great wall of china. Other records suggest roman emperor caesar augustus used *** lottery to help fund city repairs. *** lottery was played in parts of europe in the 14 hundreds. There's *** record from 14 45 of *** dutch town using *** lottery to raise funds to build *** wall around the city. In fact, the word lottery comes from the dutch word lot, which means fate. Eventually the lottery made its way to the U. S. *** lottery was used to fund the british colonization of Jamestown. And then in the early american republic in the colonial period it was used to fund infrastructure projects including the construction of churches and dormitories for such notable universities as Harvard Princeton and Yale Cohen says lotteries back then looked different, They more closely resembled raffles and tickets could be pricey. So sometimes people bought just *** share of *** ticket, but not everyone was on board with this form of gambling during the second great awakening. There is ***, *** bit of *** moral backlash in the 18 twenties, 18 thirties, states outlaw them after the Civil War. Actually, they come back very briefly. But then by the 18 eighties, 18 nineties, there's only one state lottery left in the country that was the notoriously corrupt Louisiana. State lottery officials bribed state lawmakers and agents sold tickets across America. It was depicted at the time as an octopus spreading. It's evil throughout the country. But in 18 90 Congress ban Interstate lottery ticket sales, effectively shutting down the last legal lottery in the us. Because of this American soured on lotteries for decades until 1964, when New Hampshire starts *** statewide lottery that was the New Hampshire sweepstakes it was called and it was absolutely insane compared to what we have for modern lotteries. Initially, *** horse race determines the winning ticket numbers. New Hampshire tried its luck at the lotto to bring in funds to see supplement its low state taxes. Its success sparked other states to follow. In 1974 massachusetts introduced scratch off tickets and four years later the rollover jackpot was born producing massive winning pots, national games like powerball and mega millions meant even larger possible winnings and americans continue to test their luck. Lotteries are legal in 45 states, and about half of americans say they play the lottery. According to *** 2016 survey. In 2021, Americans spent over $100 billion 292.2 million shot of winning the powerball jackpot. That means it's more likely you get struck by lightning, die from *** shark attack or get *** hole in one in golf twice in the same round than you are to win the lottery, but that does not keep people from lining up for *** shot. What keeps people playing the lottery is that it is *** form of pursuit of the american dream. Even losing tickets provide value to lottery players because they provide the chance for *** few minutes for *** few days for *** few hours to dream of *** new life and you can't dream unless you play, I'm feeling lucky. It's been *** good week