Dino Chetri stood behind a plastic wall at the R&R Convenient and Deli in Mount Vernon on Sunday, with a backward cap and a single AirPod in his ear, watching as people bought Mike and Ikes, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
With the Powerball reaching $905 million after there was no jackpot winner in Saturday night’s drawing, he said, people were excited to shell out a few bucks in hopes of being rewarded with millions.
“Even people who don’t play are buying a ticket to try their luck,” Chetri said.
With the next drawing at 11 p.m. Monday, lottery winner hopefuls grabbed tickets.
Eric McClenning, 55, who was talking to a buddy in line, asked how much the jackpot was. When he heard it was $905 million with a cash value of nearly $392 million, he decided to buy a few tickets with randomly generated numbers.
After snagging tickets, he turned to his friend and said they’d finally be able to get on that boat. McClenning said he and his pal walk along the Baltimore Harbor all the time, looking at the super yachts, dreaming about how nice it must be to float on the water all day, taking it down to the Florida Keys.
If he wins, he said, he won’t work anymore. He’ll just play a lot of golf.
Maryland has had its share of winners in the past.
The largest prize recorded in state history was a Powerball jackpot draw of $731.1 million in 2021 that had a cash value of $546.8 million. The winners, who remained anonymous and called themselves “The Power Pack,” chose the cash option, which came out to $366.6 million after taxes, said Seth Elkin, a spokesperson for Maryland Lottery and Gaming.
The next-largest Maryland prize was in 2012, when one of three tickets sold split a $656 million jackpot for the Mega Millions. The ticket was shared by three anonymous public education workers nicknamed “The Three Amigos,” according to Elkin. They split $218.6 million.
Data from Maryland Lottery and Gaming shows Powerball ticket sales have raked in $31.3 million. The total amount of money won from those tickets is $6.9 million, including two $1 million winners in Odenton and College Park.
It’s estimated the state should get $7.8 million from those sales, and some 25 cents of each dollar spent on lottery tickets in Maryland goes toward state programs and services.
Kumar Ram, who works at Snackers in Federal Hill, said most people were likely to come in the evening to purchase Powerball tickets. Most customers who play, he said, are older people hopeful of a lottery pipe dream.
A few blocks away, Antoine Petteway, 68, sat on a red wooden stool inside Cross 10 Grocery, his ticket purchased. Petteway has been playing the lottery for years but only when the pot is larger than $2 million. He picks his favorite numbers and never buys more than five tickets.
After enduring years without a ritzy win, he is convinced players have to go out of state to richer areas for a real shot at the prize.
“If it’s meant for you, you’re going to hit,” he said as he sat back against the wall, staring up at the lottery screen.
Farther north, Mike Wright stood by the counter at Carroll Motor Fuels on North Howard Street. Wright has been playing the lottery for years, and the most he said he has ever won was $20.
But banners hanging outside claiming the store has sold winning scratch-off tickets from $50,000 to $1 million entice him.
He plays numbers that don’t win and uses family members’ birthdays. But, when he heard me say I have never played Powerball, he said we had to play together. So we did.
Wright brought over a ticket and asked me to pick five numbers and one for good luck.
“I’m trying to bless both of us,” he said. “If it hits, we’ll split it.”
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