continue to come to work because there were three winners in last night s $564 million jackpot, and two of them we didn t win. the winning tickets were sold in texas, north carolina and puerto rico and the odds of winning astronomical. what keeps us lining up at those machines? here s abc s ted rowlands. reporter: across the country people scrambling to put down their $2 at a long-shot chance at a dream come true. i move to virginia beach where with my daughter is and live the life of luxury because i m almost ready to retire. reporter: some waited more than an hour to get tickets. the astronomical odds of winning, 175 million to one but that wasn t a deterrent. lottery officials say 75,000 tickets were sold per minute in the hours leading up to the drawing. they are very slim, very slim, but i don t care. it s fun. you have to may have. you have to play to win. reporter: this is the third largest powerball jackpot ever and until there is a lucky winner we can all dream
million winning tickets. they will split $636 million. the numbers are 8, 14, 17, 20, 39, and mega ball was 7. ticket sales leading up to last night s drawing were brisk. tickets were selling at a rate of 8,000 per minute. but with astronomical odds, only two of those tickets were winners. one in san jose, the other in atlanta where the store clerk found out by watching cnn. now, you know by selling the winning ticket there s also prize money for you. i know that there is. i don t know how much $25,000. 25,000? let me just tell you, it s a lot more than 25,000. it is? it s about $1 million that you get. it is? oh, my gosh! oh, my gosh. i never have that much money. that was the cutest reaction ever. cnn s dan simon is in san jose