Manitobans line up to win $1.4B Powerball jackpot

Manitobans are crossing the U.S. border to try their luck at winning more than a billion dollars, the world's largest lottery jackpot.

• Powerball lottery jackpot world's largest at $1.3B US

Over the weekend "about half of Canada" drove downto buy Powerball tickets, joked Lee Johnson, an employee at Gastrak in Pembina, N.D. The top prize was at $1.4 billion on Tuesday morning.

"Yesterday was crazy in here. We pretty much had a small lineup all day long," he said.

Powerball draws take place every Wednesay and Saturday, at 9:59p.m. CT. Lottery officials determine the winning six numbers by drawingfive white balls from a drum of 69 balls and one red ball from a drum of 26 balls.

Many of the Manitoban gamblers asked questions about how the Powerball game works, said Johnson.

"They're used to the 6/49, which has packages. We don't have packages, just whatever amounts you want," he said.

Powerball tickets sell for $2, or $3 with thePower Play add-on, which multiplies all winnings except the top two prizes.

"You got a better chance of being hit by lightning but for two bucks, what the heck," Johnson said.