Lottery frenzy hits Flathead
<p><strong>Jena Clark</strong> sells Powerball Lottery tickets as customers wait in line to buy tickets at the Appleway Conoco on Tuesday. Clark said on a regular day they sell about $100 of tickets, but on Tuesday they had sold around $900 by 3 p.m. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
People who might never have considered putting money down on one of the most astronomical chances of winning the lottery have started buying tickets in the Flathead Valley.
They’re purchasing chances for the record-smashing $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot in tonight’s drawing.
“Everywhere I go is crazy right now. I have to make sure every store has enough ticket tape,” said Patti Carlson, Northwest Montana representative for the Montana Lottery. “What’s $3? That’s not even a cup of coffee nowadays.”
Carlson works with all vendors selling lottery tickets between Idaho and Glacier National Park. She said business has been frenzied since a week ago when the jackpot reached $800 million.
Since the jackpot climbed to $1.5 billion, people are giving the lottery a second thought, despite long odds of winning: one in 292.2 million.
“We’re seeing a lot of new players, people who are not everyday lottery players,” Carlson said. “It’s drawing more interest and creating more excitement about the game.”
Between 3 and 4 p.m. on Tuesday, people in Montana were purchasing nearly $2,000 worth of tickets per minute, according to Jennifer McKee, public relations manager for the state lottery. Total sales through Tuesday afternoon were $694,482.
“The sales are simply incredible, there’s no other way to say it,” McKee said. “We’re shattering hourly sales records.”
Cars are filling the parking lots of convenience stores throughout the valley as drivers step inside to contribute their money to the pot.
Kalispell resident Leonard Buck said if he won, he would use the money to pay off some bills and keep the rest in safe-keeping.
Dasha Nasyrova, manager at Town Pump on U.S. 2 and Reserve Drive in Evergreen, said the convenience store had sold $2,198 worth of lottery tickets by 3 p.m. Tuesday. On Saturday, people bought $5,616 worth of tickets. The store receives close to $300 from an average lottery jackpot, Nasyrova said.
“It’s been pretty busy,” Nasyrova said. “People are coming in and trying a lot of different scratch tickets along with the Powerball.”
Nasyrova and Carlson both said Powerball excitement has boosted overall sales in convenience stores as people get a few small items along with lottery tickets.
“While they’re standing in line for tickets, they’re also buying pop, beer, pizza. It’s pretty nuts,” Carlson said.
Carlson said Eureka has seen a massive traffic influx from Canada. The Ranch Hand, a Eureka convenience store, sold more than $4,000 in lottery tickets on Tuesday before 1 p.m. One person bought $450 worth of tickets.
At Super 1 Foods in Kalispell, Store Manager Dennis Sweeney decided to put up line dividers on Saturday when Powerball fever hit Kalispell residents.
“It’s been steady lately, but Saturday was the worst,” Sweeney said. “Wednesday will probably be the same.”
Super 1 hasn’t gotten the same added sales effect as convenience stores, Sweeney said, but the dividers became necessary when pools of people began gathering near the lottery ticket machines last weekend.
Today, Sweeney will put another person on the checkout counter to help handle the customer lines.
Sweeney is also playing for the $1.5 billion. If he wins, he said he would pick up a nice plot of land on Flathead Lake.
“Billion with a ‘B,’” Sweeney said. “It’s kind of exciting.”
The last possible chance to purchase a Powerball ticket is 8 p.m. today — unless no winners are drawn at 9 p.m. and the jackpot increases for Saturday’s drawing.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.