If you waited until today to buy your Mega Millions lottery ticket, you could be standing in line. A long one.
Sales for tonight's $220 million jackpot have been higher than normal for the past few days, and the day of the drawing is usually the busiest, ticket sellers said.
If you're looking to avoid the long lines, sales at the popular Mega Millions online Web site are scheduled for automatic cutoff this afternoon at 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
The jackpot, the second-highest since Ohio joined the 11-state game in 2002, has been building up since May 7, when the last winner was sold. It now has rolled 14 drawings in a row without a winning ticket.
The largest prize was sold in February, when a ticket in Virginia was worth $239 million. And the biggest Mega Millions prize won in Ohio was $162 million for a December drawing.
Yesterday, regular and occasional lottery players were hoping to get lucky.
"Could you imagine having that much money?" said Tammy Pitzen.
She made five wagers at the Sunoco on Front Street, the same numbers she's played in the past few drawings.
Ms. Pitzen said she doesn't play the lottery often, but the growing jackpot caught her attention.
If she won, she said she would buy a house in the country for her children and give money to the Cornerstone Church, which she attends. Then she would travel.
"I've never seen the ocean, so I'd do that too," she said.
Across town at the Citgo station at Secor and Laskey, manager Tim Voyles said he expected to sell about $1,500 worth of tickets today. On Friday he sold about $1,100 for that night's drawing.
"A lot of first-time customers come in and buy Mega Millions, and that's all they buy," he said.
Donna Sharp, a regular lottery player, bought a ticket good for five drawings at Mr. Voyles' store.
She had no specific plans for the money.
"I have nine grandchildren," Mrs. Sharp said. "I think they'll take care of it."
She probably won't have to decide what to do with it. According to the Ohio Lottery Commission, the odds of winning the jackpot are only 1 in 135,145,920.
"You never know. Wouldn't it be exciting?" Mrs. Sharp said. "I would faint."
Smaller payouts for matching fewer numbers are much more common.
Fourteen tickets matched five of the numbers in Friday's drawing, for $175,000 each.
Odds of winning 1
Oh yeah "cash
Maybe one more rollover before it is won! But a 300+ million jackpot would be nice to play for too.