Lottery Mania Heats Up As Mega Millions, Powerball Jackpots Continue To Climb
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Lottery mania is still burning hot with two big jackpots still up for grabs.
It remains to be seen if anyone's won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot, worth some $345 million, and nobody won Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing, so it will be in excess of $900 million when the next drawing is held Friday night. The jackpot has been growing since it was last won in July in California. The previous record was $656 million, shared by winners in 2012 in three states.
There were, however, a few $1 million Mega Millions winners in our area.
Store owner Mohamed Azam wondered which of his customers pulled a $1 million prize-winning ticket from the machine on his counter. The notoriety has already put his tiny shop, Linden News & Convenience, on Linden Boulevard in the Long Island town of Elmont, on the map for lottery players.
"I'm happy for them," Azam told CBS2.
Azam said his store stands to receive $10,000 when the winner comes forward.
"Yes, because people know somebody won from the store, so I think they keep coming back, give me business," Azam said.
"It's not shabby. It's nice to see someone in this area win," added Valley Stream resident Bill Lindman.
There were eight "second tier" winners nationwide who will each get $1 million, Carlin reported.
"If second place is a million dollars, I'd be very content with a silver medal," Valley Stream's Shawn Marshall said.
Another $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven on Ridgedale Avenue in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey. Two others were sold in Pennsylvania.
The eight second-place tickets matched the winning numbers -- 3, 45, 49, 61, 69 -- but didn't hit the Gold Mega Ball of 9.
Also in New Jersey, seven tickets were sold that matched four of the five white balls and the Gold Mega Ball drawn, winning the $10,000 third-tier prize. Two of those tickets were purchased with the Megaplier option, multiplying the prize to $50,000.
New Jersey locations included:
- Camden County ($50,000): Friendly Food Mart, 1119 North Blackhorse Pike, Blackwood
- Union County ($50,000): 7-Eleven #39571, 1174 Morris Ave., Union
- Essex County ($10,000): The Twin Deli Grocery, 185 North Park St., East Orange
- Hudson County ($10,000): Prime Place Convenience, 514 1st Street Unit #1, Hoboken
- Mercer County ($10,000): Corner Express, 5 Lawrenceville Pennington Rd., Lawrenceville
- Monmouth County ($10,000): Laurel Market, 257 Laurel Ave., West Keansburg
- Ocean County ($10,000): 7-Eleven #11017, 260 Route 37 West, Toms River
The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday at 11 p.m. The odds of winning the Mega Millions are 1 in 302 million.
"Since somebody won here I guess I should go to Ohio and buy a ticket there," Lindman said.
PLAN AHEAD: What To Do If You Win The Lottery
That's his buying strategy. Others have plans for what they'd do with all that money.
"Pay off my loans, pay off grad school, get a house and then just hopefully try not to blow the rest," Marshall said.
"I would probably open a nonprofit for ... probably for women, something like that," Elmont resident Kim Rodriguez added.
Wednesday night's winning Powerball numbers were 03-57-64-68-69, Powerball: 15, Power Play: 3.