CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — The new year may only be a few days old, but 2021 could become a very, very good year for some lucky person or persons.
The jackpot for Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot is worth nearly $450 million, and it doesn't end there. The Powerball jackpot for tomorrow night is at $410 million.
It was a non-stop flow of traffic in and out of Pittman’s Qwik Mart Tuesday as people took their chance at becoming the Coastal Bend’s next millionaire.
With close to $860 million dollars up for grabs between the two drawings, lotto fever is spreading.
Some have dreams of a big payday.
“I usually just wait until it’s high like this,” said Debra Lucio.
Others meanwhile, were just feeling lucky.
“I had an itch on my palm over the weekend, I came and bought a ticket and won $100,” said Lydia Garcia. “So I’m hoping to hit the big one today.”
Garcia was one of many at Pittman’s buying tickets in hopes of striking it rich. And if she happens to hit one of the jackpots?
“I love kids, I’m always helping Boys Town and all kinds of charities, so I would definitely do that,” said Garcia.
Garcia isn’t alone. In fact, most people we spoke with say if they get lucky and hit the jackpot they’d donate more with so many down on their luck because of the pandemic.
“With a craze like this, of course you would definitely want to help out as many people as you could,” said Grace Tingle. “It would be a blessing, that’s for sure.”
“I’m a giver, I’ve always been that way,” added Lucio. “Even when I was growing up I would share my candies with my little cousins.”
Lucio says she’d also give a good deal of her winnings to charity. She says she only plays when the jackpots get big, and when she does she only plays at Pittman’s.
“They say this is the lucky store, and that’s the reason I come here,” said Lucio.
Some players were spotted filling out their slips and choosing their own numbers, while many opted for the “quick pick”, where the machine chooses the numbers.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are roughly 1 in 302,575,350. The Powerball odds are slightly better at 1 in 292.2 million.
