SAUKVILLE — Christmas Eve brought more than holiday shopping to Wisconsin gas stations as lottery players lined up to buy tickets for Wednesday night's $1.7 billion Powerball jackpot, the fourth largest in U.S. history.
At a Saukville gas station, Bob Bentley of Port Washington was among many hoping for a Christmas miracle. Bentley knows what it feels like to win big – he won $250,000 on SuperCash! in 1991.
Watch here: How some lottery players in Ozaukee County are getting set for Wednesday night's record drawing.
“[I] invested it. Didn’t touch it. Didn’t need it," Bentley said. "I have two friends of mine. We pool our money and play every game."
Denise Tappa, the clerk who sold him his winning ticket more than 30 years ago, also sold him his ticket on Wednesday.
"He was my customer back then. I've been doing this for, yeah, that long," Tappa said.
Tappa has $6 on Wednesday's drawing and has seen the lottery tickets fly off the printer as the jackpot has grown.
"Oh my, probably thousands," Tappa said. "A lot of people aren't sure what to buy, so we kind of go through it with them."
The current jackpot represents the longest streak in Powerball history – 47 drawings without a jackpot winner. The $1.7 billion figure is the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in U.S. history.
This is the second jackpot this year to hit that figure. In September, tickets in Missouri and Texas won the second-largest jackpot, at $1.787 billion.
Gas station clerks that TMJ4 spoke with from across Ozaukee County report tickets are selling fast as many shoppers hope for luck in their stockings this year.
The drawing takes place just before 10 p.m. CST on Christmas Eve.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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