San Francisco, Jan. 11, (People's Daily Online)----Now everyone seems to be getting into a state of lottery frenzy as the Powerball drawings continue with an estimate of $1.4 billion U.S. dollars as of Monday.

Fueled by dreams of being billionaires, residents queue a long line to try their fortune, employees put 5 dollars together in the company pool, and foreigners entrust Americans to buy the tickets.

The lottery fever will end by Wednesday when the biggest lottery payout in the world will be announced at 7p.m. Pacific Time. It even doubles the biggest-ever lottery prize in U.S. history. The previous record was a $656 million Mega Millions payout in 2012.

Xin Mi, a Chinese woman in Germany asked her American friend to buy 10 tickets for her. She said "Although the odds of winning is small, I still want to try. Who knows."

A man surnamed Murillo waiting in front of a convenience store in San Francisco Bay Area told the reporter that he has kept buying the ticket for two weeks. He bought tickets everyday in different stores to increase the chance.

The craziness has also ushered in a new business---- lottery agent buys tickets on behalf of those who are not in the United States. One advertisement circulated widely on Wechat showing that one agent asks for RMB 25 yuan (about 4 U.S. dollars) for one ticket and if the buyer wins, the agent will take 10% from the bonus. However, Powerball tickets are $2 each.

More than one groups here in San Francisco call for crowdfunding to buy the tickets. They collect 5 or 10 dollars from group members and make the rules of splitting the lottery winnings. One group has already had 45 members in the Monday afternoon.

Sean, a convenience owner, said that it's so busy these days that he barely gets a chance to glance over his favorite TV program. He believes that Wednesday will be a super busy day.

According to Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the game, the odds of having the winning Powerball ticket are 1 in 292.2 million.