And, if past trends hold, Powerball fever will take hold in some of the wealthier pockets of North Carolina.

Lotteries are often thought of as a poor man's game, particularly when it comes to the scratch-off ticket games, the $1 and $5 games that offer chances at prizes ranging from a few bucks to $1 million. Those are the heavy hitters for North Carolina's lottery, generating as much as half of total sales.

The customers start to change, though, when the multistate Powerball game starts touting jackpots approaching $200 million. A review of sales data for 2007 shows that Powerball sells better in places where people make more money.

Consider the top 10 ZIP codes for Powerball sales, found in areas in Greensboro, Garner and Raleigh. The median incomes ranged from $26,655 to $53,517.

Then consider the top 10 ZIP codes for scratch-off games, found in Rocky Mount, Lumberton and Morganton. The median incomes ranged from $26,655 to $40,546.

On average, then, the median income was $7,392 higher in the ZIP codes where Powerball was most popular.

Such figures are, at best, a rough measure of who plays the lottery. Analyzing ZIP codes shows only where tickets are bought, not necessarily who's buying them. The method also doesn't necessarily account for how many stores sell lottery tickets in a given ZIP code or how many interstates or major thoroughfares run through a ZIP code. And Census data on median income are nearly 10 years old.

But the idea that big jackpot games such as Powerball sell among people who are already financially comfortable is generally true of lotteries, said Philip J. Cook, a Duke University economics and public policy professor who has studied the lottery industry.

One theory as to why, Cook said, is that it takes a lot more money to get someone who already makes a decent living to dreaming about instant riches.

"The game has, of course, a jackpot that is big enough to inspire excitement among people who are already comfortable," Cook said. "That's something that the instant games don't do."

Lottery players have a magic number -- how much would it take to retire, Cook said.

For Mike Anthony, 31, a pharmaceutical salesman, that number is right around tonight's jackpot of $173 million. Anthony rarely buys lottery tickets of any kind, but he stopped by the Fiddle Stix Citgo on U.S. 64 near Interstate 540 on Tuesday to buy $10 worth of Powerball tickets.

"The pot gets high enough, it's worth a shot," Anthony said.

The odds of winning the big jackpot are one in 146 million. The odds for winning top prizes in instant games are generally better, but still stacked heavily against the player.

After Anthony left, the next customers to buy tickets at the store -- both meter readers by profession -- bought scratch-off tickets and said they don't play Powerball much.

But it's hard to typecast a lottery player at a store such as Fiddle Stix, which sits on major roads and highways, and is on the way home for a lot of people.

"It's not just one type of person," said Ann Lomison, the store's manager. Usually the only absolute is that players wait until the day of the drawing to buy tickets.

The lottery doesn't study the people who play its games, said Tom Shaheen, the lottery's director. The lottery does hear back from sales representatives, though, who hear from store owners. Shaheen said the lottery hasn't picked up on major trends in players other than they are almost always employed.

In Durham, Tommy's Mini Mart on Cole Mill Road has consistently been a big lottery ticket seller, said Dan Ashley, who has managed the store for 30 years. Ashley said everyone buys instant tickets, but consistent Powerball players tend to be white-collar, upscale types.

In Charlotte, Dipak Desai manages the Ballantyne Amoco. When the Powerball jackpot reaches six figures, he said, the lottery clientele changes. In August, the last time the jackpot spiked, Desai's store had the 11th highest sales in the state -- $32,794.

His regular lottery players are working-class customers, clerks and delivery crews, and people with tool belts. When there's a big jackpot, he said, the suits come in to play.

"When the jackpot gets bigger," Desai said, "everybody becomes a player."

(Charlotte Observer reporter Mark Johnson contributed to this report.)