“Everybody’s wanting a piece of it,” said Hiral Kumer, owner of the Plum Food Mart in Springfield. “We’ve been selling like nonstop. … It starts in the morning until we close.”
The chance of a single ticket matching all six numbers to win the jackpot is about 1 in 292 million.
But those odds are favorable enough to try, said Plum Food Mart customer Ora Weaver, who called the jackpot “life changing.”
If she wins, she has dreams of helping people.
“I want to start some residential care facilities, so that would help get me a start,” Weaver said.
Staffing levels and other reasons means that people in nursing homes don’t always get the care they need, she said.
“I want to make sure people get the care they should,” she said.
Ergun Kocak also was among those buying Powerball tickets Friday at the Plum Food Mart.
Kocak said it was the first time he had ever purchased lottery tickets.
Only three jackpot-winning tickets have been sold in Ohio in the 12-plus years the Buckeye State has participated in the Powerball lottery. The last was in 2014.
Sales for the current prize have been steadily increasing as drawing after drawing no winner emerged, and the jackpot kept growing.
Some of those buying tickets for Saturday’s drawing were spending $500 to $1,000 at a time, Kumer said.
“If nobody wins, then it’s going to be really crazy,” she said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
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