- Powerball jackpot at $425 million
- It will soar to $600 million if no one has the ticket
(CNN) -- Never mind that the odds of winning Wednesday night's $425 million Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175 million.
The will to win ignores such trivialities when dreams of a fortune dangle above the cash register.
The size of U.S. lottery jackpots are growing, with almost no end in sight.
"You could see maybe in the next several years ... an elusive billion-dollar jackpot," said Victor Matheson, economics professor at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
If no one wins Wednesday evening, the prize will be an estimated $600 million for Saturday's drawing, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Powerball is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A single ticket costs $2.
The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $656 million in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. That was split among three tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.
In case you do win it all Wednesday night, a $245 million lump sum can give you some choices.
How about nearly 100 high-speed Bugatti Veyrons? You can run away from all those relatives and friends asking for a loan.
CNN's Tom Foreman contributed to this report.
