As Powerball fever sweeps the nation, Mainers everywhere — even some Canadians — have not been immune. Many people who have never or rarely bought lottery tickets have plunked down $2 for a chance at winning nearly unimaginable riches.
“I think it’s ridiculous nobody has won yet,” Madawaska resident Carlene Raymond said Monday afternoon.
Raymond, who rarely buys lottery tickets, bought her Powerball ticket on a whim.
At Bry’s Quick Stop, also in Madawaska, owner Brian Daigle nearly ran through an entire roll of ticket paper in a single day last week.
“I was going to put (ticket sale) money in the safe every hour,” he said. “It is crazy.”
Crazy is one word for the intense interest in Powerball, whose next draw will take place Wednesday. Forty-four states, Washington D.C., and two U.S. territories participate in the game, and the prize money grows with every drawing in which the winning series of six numbers is not selected. It already is the largest jackpot for any lottery in North American history.
Even the miniscule odds of winning the jackpot — one statistician estimated that an American is 25 times more likely to become the next president of the United States than to win at Powerball — haven’t quelled the enthusiasm of Powerball players.
One man bought $100 worth of Powerball tickets Monday from WeeBeez Market on Court Street in Bangor, and store owners all over said Powerball business has been brisk.
“We’ve been swamped — believe me,” Sharon Benjamin, an owner of Belfast Variety, said Monday, when the jackpot was estimated to hit $1.4 billion. “It’s going to get worse before Wednesday: $2 to win $1.4 billion. It’s more money than one person could use. I’d like to try it once, though.”
By Tuesday morning, Powerball officials revised the estimated take at $1.5 billion.
Along the Canadian border, the unfavorable exchange rate of $1 Canadian to 70 cents American has meant that some Canadians have not been shopping in Maine as much as they used to. But Powerball has changed that.
Danielle Devoe, a clerk at Bob’s Neighborhood Inc. in Madawaska, where Raymond purchased her ticket, said her Powerball customers have included Americans and “lots of Canadians.”
Carl Weston of Weston’s Mobile in Houlton, located about 3 miles from the border crossing, said he has seen a slight uptick in Canadian traffic as the Powerball craze has grown.
“On Friday night, we saw quite an increase in sales, with some coming from Canadians,” he said. “A lot of people are pooling their money and buying a bunch.”
Many Mainers found room in their jackpot fantasies to share the wealth with others. Some said they’d pay off their debt and set their kids or their grandkids up for life. Others would give part of their riches to charitable groups.
“If I won it, I’d give most of it away to the Wounded Warriors, the animal shelters and the needy,” Julian Richardson of Machias said. “I’d save some for my children and enjoy the rest.”
Richardson was joined by friends Wendell White of Machias and Toby Maker of Marshfield, who sat at a table at the sub and pizza shop portion of Tom’s Mini Mart in Machias on Monday afternoon. The men said they meet regularly for coffee. White, who bought two Powerball tickets, said he was moved by television commercials showing sick and injured children treated at Shriners Hospitals. He said he would not only donate, he would get on a plane and go visit those children in person.
“We’ve spent this [jackpot] a million times already,” White quipped.
Maker, who bought one ticket, added homeless shelters to the list of charities he would support if he won. His friends agreed.
“You could do a lot of good with [the money],” White said.
While the men chatted, Arline Smith of Roque Bluffs bought $20 worth of Powerball tickets from clerk Renee Brightly.
Smith, who buys lottery tickets off and on, said she would share the money with family and loved ones. She wouldn’t let the wealth change her life or go to her head, she said.
Brightly has noticed a lot of those buying Powerball tickets are first-time lottery players, she said. She knows this because she has had to explain the various options to them.
Despite lottery fever being on the minds of many at Tom’s Mini Mart, one man didn’t buy into it.
“I don’t gamble,” said Scott Verburgt of East Machias, who sat down with Richardson and White while Maker was buying items. “They have an itch I don’t have.”
Bob Hewald of Searsport purchased two tickets Monday, along with the three he bought Saturday. If he won, he’d give his children and his wife’s children $1 million each and make a generous contribution to the Wounded Warrior Project. Then, he would retire from Central Maine Power.
“I don’t buy lottery tickets,” he said. “But for $1.4 billion, what’s four bucks?”
One Aroostook County man who rarely gambles said he has a lot of good ways to spend the jackpot.
“If it’s used right, you could do a lot of good with that money,” said Steve Coleman, a Fort Fairfield resident who was receiving kidney dialysis in Presque Isle on Monday afternoon.
He and his fiance would keep some and then give the rest away to support afterschool programs, drug treatment, education, conservation and affordable housing.
He suggested that renovating Aroostook County’s unoccupied homes for seniors and lower income individuals would be a good investment project for a philanthropic-minded winner.
“There are so many houses and apartments that are just sitting around,” Coleman said. “We should put the homeless in houses, give them a chance to get a job.”
If he doesn’t win — and he’s knows he almost certainly will not — Coleman said he’s thankful for what he has, a loving partner and relatively good health. He lost 70 pounds last year, started exercising and eating better, and is on track to receive a kidney transplant.
If the impossible happens and his numbers get drawn, he would do some things for himself, including buying a car and a small house, investing in his business and going to college. But he would want to redirect the bulk of the jackpot outward.
“I’d keep a million and then give the rest away,” Coleman said. “Who needs a billion dollars?”
Reuters and staff writers Abigail Curtis, Johanna Billings, Anthony Brino, Ryan McLaughlin, Don Eno and Joseph Cyr contributed to this report.