In New York, Stuart Zuckerman talked wistfully about the "what ifs" should he win.

"I would have to sit calmly down, I would hope, and then just start making plans," he said. "Wife, three kids and a business. There's a lot of planning."

Author and financial expert Dave Ramsey told CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" that the huge jackpot provides "false hope." Players, instead, would be better off investing the money, he said.

But Yolanda Vega, spokeswoman for the New York Lottery, told Morgan that Powerball provides a "source of entertainment, an opportunity to dream and to hold on to what they believe can happen positively and hopefully for the best for all and all the people around them."

For Stafford, her advice for wannabe winners is, don't worry that the chance of a ticket winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175,223,510.

"If you are spending your money on winning the lottery, believe that you will win it."