For people struggling to make mortgage payments, pay off student loans or minimize their credit card debt, a chance at the biggest single lottery jackpot in history is a temptation that's hard to resist.
The same holds true for those who drive a Mercedes-Benz and wear designer shoes. Chalk it up to the allure of a Powerball jackpot that's worth a record-breaking $1.5 billion as of Tuesday.
"High-class people are paying more money. Many are playing $300 worth of tickets. There are also a lot of business groups coming in, pooling their tickets together for groups of 400 or more," Muspansar Hussain, a Lukoil gas station employee in Fort Lee, New Jersey, told CNBC.
The gas station has seen an increase in the number of customers in business suits and more expensive cars coming in to purchase Powerball tickets, according to Hussain.
For those who can afford it, even a few hundred dollars worth of tickets isn't enough.
An employee at B&J Newsstand on Lexington Avenue in New York told CNBC that he has had about one customer per day buying $2,000 to $3,000 worth of Powerball tickets over the last several days.
The phenomenon of America's rich getting in on the Powerball action, is just as pronounced in Beverly Hills, one of the richest cities in California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
There, many are purchasing thousands of dollars worth of tickets, employees at a Rite Aid and gas station in Beverly Hills told the Times.