Today’s jackpot expected to approach $205 million
Wayne Cram dropped two bucks on the counter and stared at the lottery machine.
“Give me two more losers!” he told Jim Morreale, the owner of Neighborhood Redemption in Lisbon Falls. The machine spit out two pink Powerball tickets, two chances to be a gazillonaire.
“I’ll never win anything,” said Cram, who wasn’t aware that Saturday’s jackpot had ballooned to an estimated $205 million.
It’s enough money to fund a presidential campaign, hire the New York Yankees for a year or buy 7,321 Hummer H3s.
Not that Cram is impressed. He buys one or two tickets a week, no matter the size of the prize.
He’s not alone. Store owners around Lewiston-Auburn said they see little of the frenzy that surrounded Powerball sales a little more than a year ago, when New Hampshire stores along the Maine border saw massive lines when the jackpots surpassed $100 million.
At the Durham Get & Go, the jackpot size was illuminated in the store window with a scrolling marquee.
Yet, cashier Alisha St. Pierre has seen little difference in sales when the prizes rise.
“There are a few extras,” she said, “but the Durham customers come in as they always do with their forms all filled out.”
To them, it’s an unchanging practice.
The odds are so long – approximately 1 in 120 million – that adding another ticket to the mix is like throwing bricks in the Grand Canyon.
“I’ve seen the folks who buy 50 tickets at a time,” Cram said. “I figure my chances are just as good.”
It was the same story Friday at stores around Lewiston, from Main Street to Birch Street. However, sales were brisk elsewhere.
At the Village Store in Sabattus, owner Allen Ouellette tended to the lunch crowd and sold tickets at a fast pace. By noon, he’d had two customers who had purchased at least 50 tickets each. Many people spent four or five dollars each.
Customers imagined how they’d spend the money – round-the-world vacations, houses, boats, bills paid – and Ouellette imagined, too.
If someone bought the jackpot-winning ticket at his store, he’d win about $30,000. The allowance is 1 percent of a jackpot of up to $3 million.
Without the cap, Ouellette would be due something closer to $2 million. He’s not bitter, though. Running the ticket machine is easy work and he could use whatever his share might be.
“I’ll be happy to push buttons all day long for 30 grand,” he said.
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