Date: Fri 31-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Powerball

Full Text:

Powerball Fever Heats Up Local Ticket Sales

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Powerball fever reached new heights this week as just about everyone with a

dream of striking it rich bought a ticket. With a $296 million jackpot, who

wouldn't?

But driving up from New York to then stand in line for a few hours just for a

1-in-$80-million chance?

This week's Powerball frenzy helped create new phrases, such as "Lotto-lock"

instead of "gridlock." People were reportedly leaving their cars on the

Merritt Parkway, jumping over the guardrail and down the hill to the nearest

Powerball agent. It must have been tough when Wednesday night's drawing

revealed that only one winning ticket was sold ... somewhere in Indiana.

Only about 20 states participate in Powerball, so those from non-Powerball

states flock to their neighboring states in order to play. Of course,

Greenwich and Danbury were hit especially hard, and some merchants complained

the Powerball lines were hurting business by keeping their regular customers

away.

Here in Newtown, the Powerball phenomenon was alive and well. However, not

being a border town, local convenience stores did not report the kind of lines

seen in other areas. There were plenty of people buying tickets though, and,

unlike Greenwich and Danbury, most store owners welcomed the steady flow.

"We've been super busy. At times it can be a madhouse in here. A couple of

times we had them lined up in the store," noted Lloyd Thomas of Thomas' Deli.

At the Newtown General Store, the Powerball machine was roaring morning, noon,

and night. One gentleman came in seeking to purchase $5,000 worth of tickets,

each on an individual ticket. The constant stress broke the machine, according

to Jim Nimer, who starting printing out the numbers at 4:30 pm. By 5, the

machine went down, after only shooting out $1,500 worth. There has been

speculation that some of the people buying tickets in mass volume were selling

them in New York and New Jersey at a marked-up price.

"We sent him over to our Brookfield store (Hi-Way Market) to get the rest of

the tickets. My brother, Randy, called later and said, `Thanks a lot,'" joked

Mr Nimer.

To offset these large ticket requests, the proprietors at Newtown Convenience

Store were printing out hundreds of tickets even before the store opened. They

figured it would keep the lines down.

On Wednesday, Powerball machines went down all across the state, causing even

further mayhem. The were back up and running by mid-morning.