Local Powerball players hoping tonight is the night
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Terri Burkholder, clerk at Byers Main Street Market in Uniontown, hands Powerball tickets to Dave Stewart of Uniontown Tuesday. The Powerball jackpot for Today’s drawing is estimated to be $400 million.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Terri Burkholder, clerk at Byers Main Street Market in Uniontown, prints out Powerball tickets to a customer Tuesday.
Larry Ash spends just about every morning with his friends shooting the breeze and drinking coffee at Byers Market in Uniontown.
But on Tuesday afternoon, the Uniontown resident was back — and after more than a cup of Joe. He was in search of his piece of the pie.
Ash and his friends were there to purchase Powerball tickets for tonight’s drawing. The estimated jackpot by the end of the day Tuesday stood at $400 million.
The Powerball jackpot is the fourth largest in the game’s history so far, according to Gary Miller, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Lottery.
According to the state lottery’s website, several winning Powerball tickets worth more than $200,000 were purchased in Fayette County in October 2012 and a Fayette County resident collected $10,000 just last month.
But no one from Fayette County has ever purchased the winning jackpot ticket since it has been recorded by the Pennsylvania Lottery.
Ash is hopeful that will change tonight.
And what would he do? Relocate, he said.
“I had friends that I (haven’t) met in 30 years (who would) come after me,” he said with a laugh.
Ash isn’t the only hopeful Fayette County resident looking to win big. Lou Nagy of Uniontown has made the Powerball part of his routine.
“I play twice a week — on Wednesdays and Saturdays,” said Nagy. “The most I ever won? I had three numbers with the Powerball, and that was it.”
Although the odds of winning are slim, one in 175 million, according to Miller, Nagy said he continues to faithfully play, hoping that one lottery ticket will become his one-way ticket to Florida, where his daughter lives.
“I play the same numbers, birthdays,” Nagy said. “I got them memorized in my head ever since the lottery Powerball came out. I figured (if I change the numbers), it will get me.”
While Nagy is a faithful lottery player, he knows he’s got more competition this time around, as the jackpot grows and more people decide to play.
“Whenever the jackpot gets to this level, the interest level rises sharply,” Miller said.
Miller recommends that customers play responsibly by pitching in money with a group of friends or co-workers for tickets.
“We want our players to have fun, but play responsibly,” Miller said.
Sharon Boucher of Uniontown has been playing the Powerball for 11 years with several co-workers in the Uniontown Area School District. Now up to 19 players, the group contributes $3 a month or $36 a year to play, she said.
Over the years, the group hasn’t won more than $7, but if luck was to swing her way tonight, Boucher said she knows how she would invest in her prosperity.
“My kids ice skate, and I’d do an ice skating rink in the city of Uniontown,” she said. “We have to travel wherever we go, and they don’t skate as much because it’s the gas, the time we spend out there. Of course, (also) pay for college for my kids.”
For Boucher and the rest of her group, the night of the drawing is always an exciting time. But she said when the jackpots swell to this size, there is extra anticipation.
“Every time it gets big, someone says, ‘This is it,'” Boucher said.