Since no one matched all six ticket numbers after Mondayβs drawing, Marylanders have another chance to try their luck in the Powerball jackpot Wednesday. This time, the pot exceeded $1 billion.
Some customers piled into the Royal Farms store on Light Street in front of the lottery screen Wednesday afternoon with varying approaches to buying their $1.25 billion Powerball jackpot ticket.
One guy randomly clicks βquick pickβ several times before landing on a set of numbers he suspects will make him hit and give him extra money for the rent.
Horace Rollins has a more meticulous approach. Rollins, 41, queried ChatGPT for the most popular numbers drawn in the last two to three months. This is based on a lesson he learned from a lottery book that helped him to win his largest share, $1,000, a few years ago.
Rollins is part of a growing trend of lottery players turning to artificial intelligence for help choosing numbers. Among a few of those recent winners using ChatGPT to pick winning numbers are a Michigan woman who won $100,000 and a Virginia woman who won $150,000.
In that instance, he matched four out of the five numbers in the multi-match. Similarly, six Marylanders matched five of six winning numbers in last weekβs drawing, taking home between $50,000 and $1 million, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency said in a news release.
The agency reported Bernard Blair Jr. of Baltimore won $50,000 using his favorite five numbers, 3-6-0-7-8, on Dec. 9. The warehouse worker, they said, hopes to use the prize money for a down payment on a home.
Rollins has similar goals.
βI ainβt gone lie: The first thing Iβll do is pay all my bills,β he said.
And some more ambitious plans: βMy biggest goal is to buy land and give free housing to the homeless.β
In September, the Powerball jackpot hit $1.787 billion and went to people in Missouri and Texas. The Powerball jackpot exceeded $1 billion over a dozen times since 2016, including when it swelled to $2.04 billion in 2022.
Stores in California and Florida seem to be among the luckiest, having multiple billion-dollar lottery ticket winners. Maryland hasnβt had such luck, but perhaps that could soon change.
One way to know if Rollins wins, βItβs December now. So, in March, if you see some building called βHTR,β my initials.β
What are the 10 largest US lottery jackpots ever won?
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Los Angeles-area gas station.
2. $1.787 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025. The winning tickets were sold in Missouri and Texas.
3. $1.765 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in a tiny California mountain town.
4. $1.602 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a supermarket in Neptune Beach, Florida.
5. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016. The winning tickets were sold at a Los Angeles-area convenience store, a Florida supermarket and a Tennessee grocery store.
6. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold at a South Carolina convenience store.
7. $1.348 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a Maine gas station.
8. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Chicago-area gas station.
9. $1.326 billion, Powerball, April 7, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at an Oregon convenience store.
10. $1.269 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at a gas station in Northern California.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
This article has been updated.
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