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Eye on the prize: Area residents take shot at Mega Millions $1 billion jackpot

Area residents take shot at Mega Millions $1 billion jackpot

Top Shop Sweets owner Stephanie Link sells a Mega Millions lottery ticket Friday morning to Anthony Taranto, who works at her store in Hastings Borough. Taranto said he hopes the winner of the $1.15 billion jackpot will use the money to help other people. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

A chance to win the fifth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history — $1.22 billion — had seasoned gamblers and novice lottery customers alike rushing to their nearest retailer Friday to buy a quick pick ticket or to play their favorite numbers.

Although the odds of winning, 1 in 302.6 million, are not in their favor, several people said it’s worth taking a chance on the lottery as the take-home prize for the winner is an estimated $549.7 million in cash, before taxes. Jackpot winners can choose the annuity option — the $1.22 billion — which is paid out over a period of years.

Nic’s Tobacco Outlet cashier Darla Walker said she’s seen a “big rise” in Mega Millions lottery ticket sales while working at the shop along Pleasant Valley Boulevard Thursday and Friday.

“When it was Christmas Eve, that’s all they were buying,” Walker said of the store’s ticket sales.

Sinking Valley resident Arthur Gamble purchased a Mega Millions ticket and several instant tickets at Nic’s Tobacco Outlet on Friday. Gamble said he wins more money from playing scratch-offs.

Top Shop Sweets employee Anthony Taranto (right) sells a Mega Millions quick pick ticket to customer Robert Maurer at the store Friday morning in Hastings Borough. If Maurer wins, he plans to split the cash with his family and go on vacation. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“I always get one number or two numbers, but it’s never anything,” Gamble said of his luck on the Mega Millions, adding he once won $1,000 from an instant ticket.

If he wins a large amount of money from the lottery, Gamble said he would likely donate a lot of it after paying off his house.

Gamble said he hopes the eventual winner decides to hire a financial adviser because there are several deceitful people who would likely try to scam them out of their winnings.

“The first thing, get yourself a lawyer. If he’s not an investment guy, get investors or somebody to back you up because there’s always somebody coming to tap you on the shoulder,” Gamble said.

City resident Chuck Murray said, if he wins the jackpot, he would give money to his church and pay off his debts.

Ken’s BiLo Foods cashier Wendi Pope prints a Mega Millions quick pick ticket Friday at the grocery store in Patton Borough. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“My wife said she wanted to buy the (Logan Valley) Mall,” Murray said.

“We don’t regularly play or anything like that, but because it’s that high, you take a chance.”

City resident Chris Walton said he purchased multiple tickets for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing, using a combination of his own numbers and several quick picks. Walton said he plans to “leave Altoona” if he wins.

“It’s a grace to get out if I win, which I probably won’t,” Walton said.

City resident Joseph Komisar didn’t purchase a Mega Millions ticket, but he thinks the winner of the jackpot should spend it “very wisely.”

“I would tell them to put it in bonds and stuff that’s going to guarantee you money back,” Komisar said, adding he once won more than $400 dollars from playing a straight three-digit number in Michigan.

Komisar said he collected cans and bottles, each worth a dime, while working as a receiving clerk for a steel company in Michigan. When he cashed the bottles in, Komisar said he purchased lottery tickets and won.

“I’m one of the unluckiest people,” Komisar said of why he didn’t play the Mega Millions on Friday.

At Ken’s BiLo Foods in Patton Borough, more people were purchasing lottery tickets at the store than ever before after another retailer in the town decided not to renew their store’s Pennsylvania lottery license, said cashier Wendi Pope.

According to Pope, the grocery store along Magee Avenue, formerly known as Warfields’ Market, was sold in November to new owners, who decided not to renew the store’s Pennsylvania lottery license.

Many customers who used to purchase lottery tickets at that store have started to visit Ken’s Bilo Foods more regularly for their tickets, Pope said, adding, “They all come here now.”

At Top Shop Sweets in nearby Hastings Borough, cashier Anthony Taranto said he’s also noticed an increase in lottery sales at the store.

“You get the people that only play it once when it gets this high, and you get the people that play regularly every day. It’s a mix of everybody and you always hope for the best for them. You really do,” Taranto said.

Elder Township resident Robert Maurer said he would split his winnings with family members and go on a vacation if he won from the Mega Millions tickets he purchased at Top Shop Sweets on Friday morning.

“It’s going to be too much for me, so all of my family is going to get it,” Maurer said.

Taranto said he thinks the best thing people could do with money is to help other people.

“That’s how I always feel about it,” Taranto said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

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