Grand Strand residents ponder the Powerball win of a lifetime

Myrtle Beach resident Bobby Smith has a one-word answer as to what he would do on Sunday if he were to win the record Powerball jackpot Saturday evening.

“Disappear,” he said.

Did he want to elaborate on his plans? No, he did not.

“I can’t tell … because everybody will know where I’m going if I hit,” said Smith, chuckling.

He probably isn’t the only one contemplating pulling a Houdini. After all, whoever hits this jackpot is sure to find themselves with a lot of new friends.

On Friday morning, the record Powerball jackpot climbed from $700 million to $800 million as sales soared in the days leading up to the drawing, according to the Associated Press.

Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, says officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association on Friday raised the estimated jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing from $700 million because of strong sales, the AP reported.

Ticket holders have a 1 in 292.2 million chance of winning. To put that in perspective, the odds of hitting the jackpot are about the same as your odds of flipping a quarter and getting heads 28 times in a row, said Jeffrey Miecznikowski, associate professor of biostatistics at the University at Buffalo.

No one has won the Powerball jackpot since early November, which is why the prize has grown so large. The bigger prize entices more people to buy tickets, and that drives up the jackpot. The increased ticket sales also make it more likely there will be a winner, simply because all those extra tickets mean more number combinations are covered.

Ashley Sears, assistant manager at the Circle K convenient store off Third Avenue South in Myrtle Beach, said they have seen a major increase in Powerball tickets sold.

The increase has been so great that management has had to double-up on employees for the store’s second shift, Sears added.

“We even see more sales on first shift,” she said. “Everybody talks about it when they come in, every single customer.”

Michelle Francoeur, a cashier at the Grab N’ Go store off Palmetto Pointe Boulevard, said their busiest day for Powerball ticket sales was Wednesday, prior to that evening’s drawing.

Francoeur admits to loving the excitement these record Powerball jackpots elicit from players.

“We want to see people win,” she said.

Smith was purchasing his ticket from the Grab N’ Go Friday morning. A weekly Powerball player, he plays the birthdays of his grandchildren, his son, his daughter and himself in the hopes they are the winning numbers.

It’s worked in the past.

While living in New York, Smith said he hit a $25,000 Powerball. Lady luck struck again in 2012 with the same winning denomination, when he first moved to Myrtle Beach.

Matt Beach, of Brunswick County, N.C., was in Myrtle Beach Friday morning buying a lottery ticket before going to do some plumbing work at Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant.

Like Smith, Beach played his three children’s birthdays in the hopes they are picked in the Powerball drawing.

So, would Beach also disappear if he hits the jackpot?

“(I would) probably still go back to work,” he said. “If I sit around the house, I get lazy.”

In Wednesday’s drawing, more than 100,000 players in South Carolina won prizes from $4 up to $50,000, according to a press release from the S.C. Education Lottery.

“I just tried my luck the other day,” said Myrtle Beach resident Henry Finklea, talking about Wednesday’s Powerball.

Finklea had only one number correct – the Powerball. So, he won $12.

Those winnings were used to buy scratch-off tickets, Finklea said. They were all losers.

If there is a winner Saturday night, that person or persons would have the option of being paid $800 million through annual payments over 29 years or opting for $496 million in cash.

Despite the odds, someone will eventually win the prize. What then? Is it better to take the money as an annuity or in cash?

Olivia S. Mitchell, a professor of Insurance and risk management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said to avoid the risk of overspending or an investment mishap, a safe option would be to take the annuity, guaranteeing a huge annual payout for three decades.

“We know the average American is quite financially illiterate,” Mitchell said.

For those who want to invest the money themselves, Mitchell suggested setting aside part of the cash option to buy their own annuity that would give them a guaranteed income in case the return on the money they do invest comes up short.

“That way, you still might not beat what the state pays,” she said. “But on the other hand, you’ve protected your basic consumption needs.”

Finklea will try again for that top prize. And what would his next-day plans be if he hits the jackpot?

“Go and claim it and then I’m moving to Japan,” Finklea said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Grand Strand residents ponder the Powerball win of a lifetime."