Though California joined the Powerball lottery less than a year ago, we've already had a San Francisco winner, in the amount of $2.6 million. That's chump change compared to what's up for grabs this Wednesday, when the drawing will be held for a jackpot worth $400 million. Yup. $400 million.

According to the Chicago Trib, whoever wins the prize will have California (in part) to thank, as the lottery's prizes have nearly doubled in size since we joined the game last April. You're welcome in advance, newly rich person.

It's rare that a single person takes all the dough (one in 175 million rare), but it does happen: 84-year-old Florida grandmother Gloria Mackenzie took the entire $590 million pot last May.

Odds improve for the smaller prizes: One in 5.1 million that you could win a million bucks, one in about 649,000 that you could win $10K. (Powerball has a handy odds chart here.)

Another way to improve your odds? The courtesy of others, perhaps: "While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning quick-pick ticket," Mackenzie told CNN.

While some might describe the lottery as a scheme to separate the non-wealthy from their money or as a "stupidity tax," Guardian UK columnist/former Wall Streeter Chris Arnade has a different take, saying that playing the lotto "is one of the only legal opportunities available to (poor people) to become rich."

"The wealthy have many routes to legally make money without having to play the lotto," Arnade argues. "They can get an education from high-priced and high-profile schools and emerge debt-free with a resume made for Silicon Valley or Wall Street." Awesome, so the lottery is "disruptive"? Sure, why not.

A winner of the entire prize in Wednesday's drawing would take home a single lump-sum payment of $227.8 million. The winning numbers will be called at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, which means Californians need to buy their tickets by 7 p.m. Pacific. Just watch out for line-jumping little old ladies.

Good luck, and please remember your SFist pals when you win.

[Chicago Trib]
[Guardian]
[CNN]
[Powerball.com]