powerball

What would you do if you won $425 million Powerball jackpot?

Andy Gerretse, 34, of West Town, shows his Powerball ticket on Sunday evening. If he won the jackpot — now pegged at $425 million — he says he would try to buy the White Sox. | MItch Dudek~Sun-Times

If his Powerball picks hit pay dirt and Andy Gerretse bags the record-high $425 million prize, he says he would try to buy the White Sox.

“I’d sit in my box and invite all my friends,” said Gerretse, 34, who would have to take time off from his new career as a professional golfer to jet home to U.S Cellular Field. He’ll worry about the 14 handicap later.

He’d quit his current gig as a construction worker building roads, Gerretse said after plunking down $2 to buy a Powerball ticket Sunday evening at the Citgo gas station at Grand and Ashland, not far from his West Town neighborhood home.

“I’d get a new car, too. One with a driver,” said Gerretse, who would said he would ditch his Pontiac Grand Prix.

“I also want to see New Zealand,” he added.

Celso Fuentes was ahead of Gerretse in line and bought three tickets.

“I’ve always wanted to see Russia, said Fuentes, 72, a retired candy company machine operator. But Fuentes, also of West Town, said he would take care of his six kids and eight grandkids before adding any new stamps to his passport.

Both men plan to tune in to the Powerball drawing Wednesday night.

While it may be fun to dream about what you’d do with $425 million — or more if ticket sales drive the jackpot even higher — the odds of winning Wednesday are slim: 1 in 175 million, according to the Illinois Lottery.

The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot was on Oct. 3, when a player in Delaware won $50 million, according to the Illinois Lottery.

Saturday night’s grand prize of $325 million was the fourth-highest in the game’s history. The winning numbers were: 22, 32, 37, 44 and 50, and the Power Ball number was 34.

The closest anyone in Illinois came to collecting the jackpot Saturday night were the five players who matched four of five numbers and the Power Ball, according to the Illinois Lottery. They’ll receive $10,000 each.

Before this jackpot, the biggest grand prize in the history of the Powerball game was $365 million, won in 2006 by eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant.

Last April, Merle Butler and his wife, Patricia, of Downstate Red Bud won one-third of a record $656 million Megamillions jackpot. Their share was $218.6 million, which shrunk to $111 million after taxes.