Nevadans flock to Primm as Powerball jackpot soars
Waconda Coleman of Las Vegas knows exactly what she’ll do if she and her husband win the lottery.
“I would buy two houses, give each one of my five siblings and our parents a million dollars, then for our grandkids, we’d put up a trust fund,” Coleman said.
Waconda, 53, and Jeffrey Coleman, 55, were just two in a crowd of dozens of people Saturday morning who lined up outside The Lotto Store in Primm, just off Interstate 15 at the Nevada-California state line, for a chance at a $1 billion winning Powerball ticket.
The Powerball jackpot, which starts off at $20 million, hasn’t hit since May. That means Saturday’s drawing could be worth over $1 billion, or a lump-sum payment of roughly $453 million, according to Carolyn Becker, a spokesperson for the California State Lottery.
“A lot of people wait for a certain threshold to play,” Becker said.
That group includes the Colemans, who also run a local business called JC’s Catering.
“We come out every now and then, basically when it gets big like this,” Waconda Coleman said. “As long as you’re in the shade today, it’s not that bad.”
Essentially, what lotto players lined up to buy Saturday was hope, but the odds to capitalize on that hope are long. To win the Powerball jackpot, Becker said, it’s about a 1-in-292 million chance.
A.J. and Roxanne King, both 24, waited for over an hour in the midday heat to buy some tickets. A.J. King said he planned to spend nearly $100 at the store.
“I’d pay my mom’s house off right away if we win,” he said. “I’d want her to live comfortably. She’s always done her best for me.”
While the temperature wasn’t scorching hot for Southern Nevada, it did reach into the mid 90s in the late-morning hours. Some held umbrellas to shield the sun and not everyone was in the mood to wait for an hour or more.
Arthur and Sherri Scott, visiting from West Virginia, drove out to the store with Lillian Brown, Sherri Scott’s mother who lives in Henderson, but decided not to wait to wait in line.
Instead, the Scotts decided to ask a family member back in West Virginia to pick up some Powerball tickets for them.
“I was shocked to see how long the line is, so I just said we can have our granddaughter pick some up for us,” Sherri Scott said. “If we waited in this line, we might be here for two hours.”
Many people in line were from the Las Vegas Valley. Those who play Powerball and other lotto games often make the drive to The Lotto Store, which sits just across the state line in California, to buy tickets because the tickets aren’t available in Nevada due to a ban in the state’s constitution.
Saturday’s Powerball drawing was to take place at 8 p.m.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
