Jackpot fuels Powerball fever

Monday, February 20, 2006 posted 02:43 AM EST

Bay State residents flocked to convenience stores just over theborder yesterday hoping to pluck up the coveted nine-figure winning Powerball ticket for last night’s 28-state drawing and forget life as they know it.

Most of them said they’d share the wealth - a record $365 million jackpot - with family members who helped them along the way.

Frances Rodriguez, 34, of Lynn hopes to spoil her children and move back to paradise.

“I’d go back to my country and buy my grandmother a house,” the Puerto Rico native said.

And Greg Griffiths and his fiancee, Leanne Bello, kept repeating, “We’ve got a huge family.”

If (and it’s a big “if”) they win, the Malden couple plan on giving $1 million to each of their 32 closest relatives, pay off bills and make a “major donation” to Massachusetts General Hospital’s burn center. “Leanne’s sister was in a terrible accident and they really helped,” saidGriffiths, 33.

Patrons of the Sunoco Station on Broadway in Salem, N.H., said they decided to embrace the fever and hope for beginner’s luck. “I actually just came up here to buy cigarettes,” said Dennis Hughes of Malden. “What the heck? I’ve never played before, maybe if I won I’d travel around the world.”

By midday, Mike Khan, 24, a cashier at the Sunoco, estimated he’d sold about $2,000 worth of Powerball tickets in mere hours. A single-play ticket costs $1.

“You won’t find a lot of people in here who are actually from New Hampshire,” Khan said. “Tonight is going to be even worse and my boss asked me to stay late.”

Powerball is run by the Multi-State Lottery Association in Des Moines, Iowa, and played in 28 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Massachusetts is not a participant, though neighboring New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island see plenty of Bay State treasure-seekers when the time is right.

“I just buy when the jackpot gets real high,” Griffiths said. “Boy, wouldn’t it be great to win?!”

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