“You never know,” drywall contractor Stanley Owen Jr., 56, said at Nic’s Grab n’ Go on Sixth Avenue. “You gotta play to win.”

Friday afternoon, people were seen at various gas stations throughout the city thinking about what they would do with almost $2 billion in their wallets.

“If I would win, I would change lives. I would change other’s lives,” Altoona resident Lamar Bundy, 48, said while purchasing two Powerball Double Play tickets at the Nic’s Grab n’ Go on Sixth Avenue.

“You got to pay it forward,” he said. “Everybody will have a piece.”

A Powerball lottery ticket is purchased at the Nic's Grab 'n Go Sixth Avenue store on Friday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

At the same gas station, Owen said he wanted to retire with his winnings, along with retiring his brothers and family while giving his children and grandchildren an “easy life.”

“Because working for a living ain’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Owen said with a laugh.

Legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania is what Altoona player George Patterson, 55, said he would do with his $1.8 billion. He bought one $2 ticket on Friday, but he said he’s played every draw since the Keystone Jackpot in the late 1990s.

Over at the Nic’s Grab N’ Go on California Avenue, retiree Pam Mock, 68, said she would spend her money on family and friends because she’s “happy in life.”

Stanley Owen Jr. of Altoona buys a Powerball lottery ticket at the Nic’s Grab ‘n Go Sixth Avenue store on Friday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Insurance adjuster Brian Leonard, 58, wasn’t sure what he would do with his winnings, but later said he would donate “a lot of it.”

Traveling is on 32-year-old Alycia Wolfe’s radar, adding that she would visit places such as Tennessee and Ireland, but there are “a lot of places” she wants to see.

Yet the odds of winning are considerably low.

When told the odds of dying from a flesh-eating bacteria are better than winning the jackpot, Leonard sarcastically replied, “that’s great.”

Despite low probability, players not only purchase tickets for themselves, but for significant others, family members and friends.

Stanley Owen Jr. of Altoona buys a Powerball lottery ticket at the Nic's Grab 'n Go Sixth Avenue store on Friday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

One of Mock’s friends bought five $2 tickets, which was how Mock said she wound up with one.

“We’ve been buying them every week since it’s been big,” Mock said, “and she gave me a copy of them.”

Wolfe also bought multiple $2 tickets for her coworkers at Skills of Central PA because they play whenever the numbers are “up” at the time, she said.

Her numbers were inspired by a Simpson’s episode, she said, which predicted the Powerball number being 9 and the winning numbers to be 7, 20, 27, 41 and 53. She said she’s only superstitious about numbers.

Choosing what numbers to play is something many players do differently, such as letting the machine pick for them, picking dates or lucky numbers.

Bundy said he used to have favorite playing numbers, but normally he plays his birthdate, his wife’s birthdate, his children’s birthdates plus one of his ancestor’s birthdates and “mix it all in there sometimes.”

Having the machine choose is what Owen and Leonard do, however, placing their fates into randomized numbers.

Another strategy is to ask nearby people to choose a number for them, which is what Patterson did Friday afternoon. As a result, he filled in numbers, including the suggested numbers of 24 and 17.

Players are also superstitious about where they purchase their tickets, which was why Nic’s Grab N’ Go on California Avenue was busy on Friday.

One month ago, someone bought a ticket there and subsequently won $3 million on a scratch-off Mega Bucks lottery ticket, worker Jamie Creegan-Ireland said, and ever since, people have been buying their tickets at that location.

“People have been coming in asking about (the lottery ticket),” she said.

When Mock buys lottery tickets, she said she usually goes to whichever convenience store happens to be nearby, but because she wanted to be lucky, she chose that location.

“So, I’m thinking, ‘What are the odds?'” she asked rhetorically.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414