CHICOPEE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - This weekend is a big one if you are looking to hit the jackpot. That’s because someone out there could be a mega-millionaire. Powerball is a lottery game in which the rules are simple: match all five white ball numbers and the red Powerball number, and you hit the jackpot.

That is something a number of people in western Mass are hoping to achieve. Shown through the front window of the Pride Market in Chicopee is the jackpot sign for Powerball. As you can see, it says $999 million, actually, it’s one million more.

As soon as this weekend, someone in the country, possibly in our area, could walk away with an estimated grand prize of a billion bucks. It’s the second time this year Powerball has reached that mark, with the first being $1.787 billion that was split between two winners in Missouri and Texas back in September.

Western Mass News spoke with Alonzo Swift, one of several people looking to be the top winner, and he has an interesting strategy, “I thought about a couple of quick picks, then I normally play my regular numbers. I try to corral the numbers around (and) see what happens. I usually run the same slip for about 30 days. If I don’t hit, I get quick pick, then I run those (numbers) for about 30 days.”

For Chicopee’s Robert Garrett, he decided to just take the quick pick route. If he were to win, he would give most of the prize money to meaningful causes, “I understand the struggles of how it is for kids separated from their family. So of course I’d want to give back to anything like that. Also, (I want to) help try to find any cures for any cancers or anything like that. I’d obviously donate some of it to that as well.”

For Swift, he says he would put his family before himself should he win big. that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t get any personal items, and he is not going into this by luck, “I’m just going by chance. There’s not much chance, and I hope my numbers are the ones that come out.”

As for Garrett, he is feeling good and hopes for a positive outcome, “I can use a good chunk of that money to either start my own business or fund myself to put myself through college. I’m hoping I’m going to be the lucky one, but you never know until it happens.”

If you didn’t get your Powerball tickets yet, don’t worry because there’s still time.

The next drawing is just before 11:00 p.m. Saturday night. So good luck, western Mass.

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