With this much money on the line, Powerball players in Shawano figure there is strength in numbers.
Then again, if things do not work out, misery loves company.
Many local gamblers chasing the historic $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday are teaming up with co-workers and combining their money to purchase tickets, hoping to improve their odds of landing the biggest payoff ever.
“What is one person going to do with all that money anyway?” said Whitnee Carlson, who organized at least 15 of her co-workers at Charlie’s County Market to buy tickets en masse.
In a scenario being duplicated in countless workplaces before Wednesday’s drawing, each participant at Charlie’s County Market contributed $2 for the chance to collect a proportionate share of the jackpot, if any of the group’s tickets is a winner.
Carlson said she was having no trouble at the grocery store finding co-workers who were willing to join her Powerball power play.
“I think we all think our chances are better,” she said. “I’m hoping we get something. Maybe not the whole thing, but something would be nice.”
The jackpot in the multi-state Powerball lottery climbed to unimaginable proportions after nobody won last weekend’s $800 million drawing, which was itself the largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
With Wednesday’s drawing approaching and the new jackpot growing bigger and bigger, workers throughout the Shawano area could not resist joining forces to take their best shot and share a dream.
At American Marine & Motorsports, salesman John Reed rallied 22 of his co-workers together to purchase more than 80 tickets. From clerks to top managers, Reed found there were few at the motorsports retail outlet who did not want a piece of the action.
“When it gets really big, everybody wants to get in,” Reed said.
The same group, more or less, bought a batch of tickets last weekend and managed to win $12. Participants agreed to double down with those winnings and then invest more, upping their ante.
Despite the long odds of winning, Reed said the group was dreaming big of splitting $1.5 billion into 22 individual fortunes.
“You’ve always got to hope,” he said. “That’s the whole idea.”
Employees at Qualheim’s True Value hardware store were hoping, too, after lawn and garden manager Diane Hensel persuaded 18 of her co-workers to pool their money together and play the lottery as a group.
Hensel could barely fathom she and her colleagues all becoming instant millionaires.
“Somebody’s got to win. Why not?” she said.
Co-worker Jolene Clark, a cashier at Qualheim’s, said the disappointment of losing out on such a payday would be lessened somewhat by knowing that she shared the letdown with others. On the other hand, if lightning strikes and the group wins, Clark said she would prefer that a number of people share in the good fortune, too.
“I don’t know what I would do with it all by myself,” she added.
Bill Mueller, a meat department manager at Charlie’s County Market, likewise said he had no objection to sharing a $1.5 billion jackpot with some of his co-workers.
“That much money, it’s easy to share,” he said. “The more, the merrier.”
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