With his freshly printed ticket in hand, Mike Diepetro hoped he had the winning numbers to print $1 billion.
“It would be a wonderful gift,” he said. “I hope and pray.”
A steady stream of customers walked in and out of the Lindenwold Preet Food Mart in Camden County, New Jersey on Christmas Eve to get their last-minute lottery tickets before Tuesday evening. Mega Millions drawing. The jackpot has increased to $1 billion.
The store sold a single Jackpot-winning ticket of $222.6 million in June that matched every number drawn in the Powerball. While you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning, regulars say they hope lightning strikes twice.
“Oh man, this is the happiness store right here,” said another customer. “We hit last time, we’re going to hit again.”
Cheriese Majatte did not plan to buy a ticket on Tuesday evening, because her husband had already bought their ticket earlier. But she said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to improve her chances.
“This is the normal place where my husband comes to play his songs, so I thought, ‘You know what, I’m here, let me just buy some more tickets,’” she said.
The Mega Millions jackpot has been rolling since it was last won for $810 million in Texas on September 10. No ticket matched all six numbers during the final draw on Friday evening.
It’s been an unlucky year for lottery players with just three Mega Millions jackpot wins, the fewest wins in a single year since the game began in 2002.
If someone wins on Tuesday, it would be just the second Mega Millions jackpot win on Christmas Eve.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. The winning numbers will be announced during the drawing at 11:00 PM ET.
