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As lotto hysteria subsides, Hoosiers still able to win

ZIONSVILLE, Ind (WISH) – A winning Powerball jackpot ticket wasn’t sold in the Hoosier State, but that doesn’t mean people in the area didn’t win.

Although the focus of Payless Liquors is alcohol, employees were busy selling other things this week. “Everybody kept saying, this is the lucky store, this is the lucky store, and it was,” Payless Liquors employee Crystal Owens said.

Payless Liquors in Zionsville sold a Powerball ticket worth $100,000. “I’m glad someone hit it, you know, in Zionsville,” Owens said. “It’s amazing.”

While Hoosier Lottery officials announced the winning ticket came from that location, they did not know who bought it. “It would be great to see someone come in and say, hey I hit it,” Owens said. “I told you it was a lucky store.”

Since most people did not have the winning ticket from Zionsville, some local businesses started doing promotions will all the losing tickets, including Scotty’s Brewhouse. If customers were to hand the waitress a ticket that didn’t win, they would receive 10 percent off the bill.

“People are definitely bringing them in,” Scotty’s Brewhouse bar manager Ryanne Moe said. “Our lunch is already kind of a busy time of our day, and people are bringing them in, getting their 10 percent off, they’re leaving happy and full.”

One of those customers being Homero Belbosque, who was bummed when his six numbers didn’t match.

“My daughter bought a ticket too, and we were looking at each other, and said, well we have to keep going,” Belbosque said.

At least he got his $2 back by bringing his losing ticket to lunch. “It’s just another way of not only attracting the people but realizing that this is a good place to hang out,” Belbosque said.

The Powerball hysteria has died down. The insane jackpot, and the lines are gone and it is not necessarily a bad thing for Payless Liquors employees.

“It’s so much coming in and it’s so much coming out,” Owens said. “But I enjoyed it. It was fun.”

There were other big winning tickets in Indiana outside of Zionsville. A $100,000 ticket was sold in West Lafayette and a million dollar ticket was sold in Terre Haute.