Odds Aside, Big Game Hopefuls Rush to Play

Consider the morbid math: A dreamer looking to win the $325-million Big Game lottery is 16 times more likely to get killed driving to the gas station to buy a ticket.

Still, the near-impossible odds of 1 in 76 million failed to deter thousands rushing to snap up tickets for tonight’s drawing for the second-biggest lottery jackpot in the U.S.

“It’s greed. Greed clouds good judgment,” said Les Krantz, a probability expert who was holding a ticket himself.

The jackpot in the game played in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia climbed $25 million after strong sales over the weekend.