Booming sales of $2 Powerball tickets in the area mirrored state and national trends after the jackpot for Wednesday night’s drawing was raised to a record $500 million on Tuesday.

“My lottery machine is smoking,” said Tara Curtis, assistant manager of the Marathon station at 711 N. Main St. in Englewood. “Sales are off the charts, and we’re just a small little store.”

Stacy Lewis, assistant manager at Circle K, 1105 W. West Dorothy Lane in Kettering, predicted that by Wednesday night, “People will be lined up outside all the way to the street” to buy tickets.

Marie Kilbane, spokesman for Ohio Lottery in Cleveland, said Powerball sales in Ohio on Tuesday morning, after the prize level was raised from $425 million,were more than five times higher than those reported for the same morning a week earlier.

“This is record territory for Powerball and it’s nearing record territory for multi-state games. There’s definitely a ‘wow’ factor with a prize this big,” Kilbane said.

Minimum jackpot for Powerball is $40 million, but no one has won it since Oct. 6. Drawings are held each Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. The pool for that jackpot closes at 10 p.m.

The game is sold in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“If no one wins it, it just keeps rolling,” Kilbane said.

The U.S. record for a lottery jackpot is $626 million for the MegaMillions game, set in April. Top prize in Powerball until now has been $356 million, in 2006. Kilbane said there have been two Ohio winners for Powerball jackpots.

“A winner on Wednesday who chooses the cash option would collect $327 million. A second-tier winner who matches four numbers without the Powerball would win $1 million,” she said.

Debbie Fitzpatrick, a clerk at the Marathon Gas Station, 230 S. Main St., Urbana, said sales of lottery tickets have been brisk for at least a week.

“I wish somebody would win that thing,” Fitzpatrick joked.

She expects sales to increase even more sharply in the hours before the drawing takes place.

“Probably tomorrow will be insane,” she said.

Dan Clark, manager of the Linden Avenue Short Stop, 4210 Linden Ave. in Riverside, said Powerball sales “are about two to three times normal. We’re seeing some group purchases, but the amounts of individual sales are about the same. Some just buy one ticket. Others buy $20 to $30 worth.”

He said it’s good for business because most customers also buy other things. “We had customers lined up around the whole store in April for that jackpot.”

Curtis said “a lot of people who normally don’t buy lottery” when they fuel up at her Englewood station “are taking a chance. I usually don’t. I might have to this time.”

Lewis said there have been “a lot of $10 and $20 sales” at her Kettering store, “but we’re starting to get office pools — groups buying $100 and $200 worth of tickets.”

Sales for Powerball reached a record $3.96 billion in fiscal 2012 and are expected to reach $5 billion this year. The game is run by the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association.