Record High Lottery Prize Brings Alabamians to Florida to Buy Tickets

[gtxvideo vid=”6Ujyj4qJ” playlist=”” pid=”2gxTqEDg” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/6Ujyj4qJ-120.jpg?cachebust=1452873287801″ vtitle=”Lottery Travel”]

Even though Alabama legislature is still debating on having a lottery in Alabama, that is not stopping many Alabamians from playing the game. Currently the jackpot is set at a record $1.5 billion dollars.

When Rhett Joyner took over R & R State Line Lotto, he never imagined most of his revenue would come from out of state ticket sales.

“Most of our business is Alabama. I would say 80 percent of our business is residents from Alabama,” Joyner says. The line in the lotto store stretches out the front door and into the parking lot, something Joyner says happens daily since the Powerball numbers increased.

“We’re so close to so many small communities, that it’s just, you know, a drive over,” Joyner says. “It’s six miles from the Alabama state line.”

Nearly every car in the parking lot sports a Alabama license plate, and most players drive miles just for a chance to win.

“When I lived in Mobile, we would go to the Florida line fairly often, but since moving to Wilcox County, which is in the middle of the state, I haven’t played lotto in years,” says Virginia Dailey. Dailey might not think she is a professional player, but she won a hundred dollars on a one dollar scratch off ticket while in Joyner’s store.

The odds of winning the lottery are one in 292.2 million, but that has not stopped anyone from stopping in to buy a ticket at R & R State Line Lotto.

“You know, if you really think about it, why not? You know, you can’t win if you don’t play,” Joyner says with a laugh.

Even though an Alabama lottery would hurt Joyner’s Florida-based business, he thinks it could potentially help the state of Alabama. He also thinks it could help him open up a new business.

“I think it would definitely hurt my business, but not only that, but I’m so close to the Alabama line it would actually give me another option you know, maybe I could think about having something in Alabama also,” he says.

Until then, the Powerball players atR & R State Line Lotto are optimistic about their chances of being over-night winners.

“Yes this is the winning ticket. I can’t let you see the numbers but this is the winning ticket, these are the winning tickets,” Alabama resident Tammie Nolan says, waving her tickets.

“Oh I got the winning ticket, I mean, so I don’t know what everybody else is waiting on,” laughs Elaine White.

The drawing for the Powerball is Wednesday night at 9:59 Central Time. If no one has the winning numbers, the Powerball could set another record and grow to over $2 billion.