There was a long line outside Kavanagh Liquors in San Lorenzo which has sold four winning tickets in the past. They also sold a fifth winning lottery ticket years ago for $28 million, but nobody claimed it. Many people think the store is lucky and waited in line for an hour to buy their lottery ticket there on Thursday.
"This store has a reputation, Kavanagh's, for winners," said Willie Brown from Hayward.
"The most in Northern California. We just had one in January and now this big Mega Millions jackpot, it looks like everybody knows it," said store manager David Spahn.
They've had four claimed jackpots. The latest was worth $11 million.
"She was a regular and she just played one quick pick for advanced play and it was her husband's number, who unfortunately had passed away a few years back, but it was kind of cool," said Spahn.
"We bought 800 quick pick numbers," said Danielle Barnes of Livermore. She hopes her work pool will have the next winning combination. "It's probably about 150 of Alameda County's finest paramedics and EMTs."
And really, they're playing for more than $540 million.
"As the jackpot gets higher, which we're at $540 million, and sure to be higher by the time we hit tomorrow's draw," said Fred Cherniack from the California State Lottery.
Kavanagh's sold 80,000 tickets for this jackpot. Lottery officials are saying that it is likely that someone will pick the 6 numbers needed to win, since so many people have bought tickets.
