Many people got off work Wednesday night and stopped by stores to pick up Powerball tickets. The jackpot has now ballooned to $500 million, and Americans are hoping it could be theirs.

This is the sixth largest Powerball jackpot in history. If you took the cash amount, your net payout would be $229,500,000, according to

"I decided, 'Hey, why not give it a chance? Buy a ticket, you never know what happens!'" said Pam Hilt after buying her ticket in Naples. 

After Saturday's jackpot came and went without a big winner, millions of new tickets sold sent the total soaring to an estimated half a billion dollars.  

It's a number so high, casual players are being pulled into the game.

"I'm just putting my little bit in and hoping for the best," said Eugene Donaldson in Fort Myers.

Some, like Perri Tabak, say they don't even know what they'd do with the money - they just want to play. 

"I just woke up, and I felt lucky," she said. 

"When it gets this high, we have actually double the amount of people who regularly play," explained Store Manager Yogi Patel as he cashed out customers at his gas station on Palm Beach Boulevard. 

You could pick your own numbers, or leave it up to chance with the "Quick Picks" computer system that randomly assigns numbers to your ticket.  Lottery officials say 70 percent of past winners just let the computer decide. 

But no matter how you play, officials say your odds of winning are less than one in 292 million. 

"You can't win if you don't play," said Jennifer Johnson. 

Thinking of going in on several tickets with friends and coworkers?  Experts say it might be fun, but you have to be careful.  It's a good idea to put in writing exactly who's involved, and how you're splitting up the jackpot to avoid any misunderstandings if you do win money.

Florida is one of the top-selling Powerball states. Since Powerball launched in 2009, the Florida Lotto has had the most winners in the nation, totalling more than $3.2 billion.

A portion of the sales from all those tickets goes back to schools right in your community.

ABC7 is your Powerball station. It's the only place you can see the multi-million dollar drawing live Wednesday at 11.