TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A couple of Tampa friends started a lottery pool on social media that allowed them to purchase $70,000 worth of Powerball tickets for the record breaking $1.5 billion drawing.
Bay News 9reports that the pool began with a Facebook post. The pool cost $500 to get in and they eventually got 140 friends to join them.
The drawing is Wednesday evening.
Powerball tickets cost $2 each. The pool's organizers were able to buy 35,000 tickets, greatly increasing their odds of winning the jackpot.
The friends had all the tickets printed up at the Metro Market in Tampa's Ybor City. Owner Osama Samhoury said it took him more than three hours of straight printing to fill the order.