Locals dream big

The eight zeroes scrawled in blue Magic Marker next to the number 5 on a sign in Nina?s Market Wednesday convinced Ron Benedict to dig into his pocket and pull out two one-dollar bills.?That?s all it takes to win,” said the Lynn resident.Wednesday night?s Powerball drawing with its half-billion – that?s right, billion – dollar jackpot required a winner or winners to pick 11-13-25-39-54 as winning numbers with 19 as the Powerball number. The drawing came after 20 consecutive drawings without a winner, said Massachusetts Lottery spokesman Christian Teja.?Wednesday marked the third-largest jackpot in Powerball history,” Teja said.Even with snow-clogged roads packed with crawling traffic, Lottery players such as Benedict managed to head to Nina?s and other stores to buy tickets. Matching five numbers plus the Powerball number is a feat, according to Lottery statistics, that requires overcoming 1 in 175 million odds.With his eyes firmly focused on winning, Benedict said he planned to buy a very warm island if luck favored him. Lynn resident Will Buckless said he wanted to help fellow veterans if he won, adding he also planned to donate money to Holy Family Church, located around the corner from Nina?s.The Essex Street store has sold its share of winning tickets, said owner Baseem Nsier. He said a Nina?s customer bought a $100,000 Mass Cash ticket in 2013 and the store sold a Mega Millions ticket worth $250,000 in 2008, he said.?We?ve got lucky customers,” he said.Teja said Powerball tickets sold at the rate of 5,000 tickets per minute on Wednesday, and Nsier estimated he sold 500 tickets between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. He said the winter weather slowed sales, but he credited the Lottery with keeping Powerball interest high.?The Lottery is always doing something to improve sales,” he said.Nsier offered one suggestion to Lottery officials: Divide up gigantic prizes to ensure several winners walk away smiling.?Why not make more people happy?” he said.