Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hundreds line up for 1-in-175-million shot at Powerball lottery

Despite long odds — one shot in 175 million — of hitting the jackpot in Wednesday’s record $425 million Powerball lottery, hundreds of people are lining up at stores just inside the Arizona border to buy tickets.

Presumably, many are from neighboring Nevada, which does not offer the lottery.

About 500 people were lined up at lunchtime Monday to buy tickets at the Arizona Last Stop, about 30 miles southeast of Boulder City on U.S. 93.

The line started forming when the store opened at 6:30 a.m., co-owner Lynda Yovanno Ducas said. To deal with the crowd, all of the store’s 14 employees have been called in to work, she said.

Still, customers could expect to spend about an hour in line for the chance to buy tickets at $2 each, Ducas said.

The line was shorter down the road at Rosie’s Den, where customers had to wait about 20 minutes to buy tickets from one of two lottery machines at the diner.

The store is extending its hours until 8 p.m. for the next few days to accommodate the surge of lottery customers, said Sheila Larson, the owner’s daughter.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “We’re just going to keep on working through it.”

The Powerball jackpot climbed to a record high after nobody picked the winning numbers in Saturday’s drawing. The lottery operates in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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