NEWINGTON, Conn. — This Halloween, people were hoping for no tricks and all treats when the Powerball drawing happened.
"I have the winning tickets in my hand, absolutely, absolutely," said Elana Kaplan of Berlin. "I just know it, I just feel it. I am going to win tonight," she said.
The one billion dollar jackpot is the second largest in Powerball history and it’s an amount of money that can be described as…
"Amazing. Fantastic. Unbelievable," said Bill Stanton of Shelton.
"It’s unimaginable, unimaginable. It’s untouchable right now to me," Kaplan said.
People were crossing their fingers it could soon be theirs. One after another customers bought their tickets at Stew Leonard’s in Newington Monday evening, one of the highest-selling locations for lottery tickets in the state.
Many with no strategy, just hoping for luck.
"I actually don’t buy them very often, I saw that it was up to a billion, and I said okay I could use a billion," said Tanya Barrett of West Hartford.
"Just one, that’s all it takes is one to win," Stanton said. "And a $5 scratch off I’ll probably do better on the scratch off than I will on the Powerball," she said.
Those people certainly were not alone in taking a chance. The Connecticut Lottery said as of 4 p.m. on Monday there were 3,225 wagers happening per minute and over 2 million dollars in Powerball sales in the state.
So what would people do with the money if they won? Many wanted to share.
"Charity, travel, give out to my family as well as charities. And just enjoy a little bit of life," Kaplan said.
"Who knows? I have grandchildren, who knows, college?" said Carol Albert of Newington.
"Spread the wealth, help the underserved," said Barrett.
But many also wanted to enjoy it themselves.
"Just have less stress right? I think everybody wants more money so they can just live without any kind of worries," Barrett said.
"I’ll go buy a private island somewhere and retire. I worked 40 years at the post office and it’s about time to do something good," Stanton said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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