“It’s been very busy since yesterday,” said Tim Schaeffer, the owner of Pound Ridge Sunoco along with his wife, Karen. “We had a line earlier.”
Schaeffer said his lottery business gets busiest during the lunch hour and then again after 5 p.m. when people are heading home from work.
On Wednesday afternoon, the gas station – which sold a $250,000 winning ticket back in 2008 – was beginning to see a steady increase in the number of players seeking to plunk down a couple of bucks and take a stab at the record-setting jackpot, even though the odds of winning top 175 million to 1.
Beth Mulleavey, who grew up in Pound Ridge but has lived in southern California for the past 35 years, was in town visiting relatives and decided to take a chance.
“It’s the big hype; it’s what everyone is talking about,” she said. “So, I thought, ‘Why not?’ ”
Mulleavey said that if she defies the odds and hits the jackpot, she’ll give most of the proceeds to her brothers.
“I’d like to help my brothers out. I don’t need it – I’m retired and I live pretty well,” she said.
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