Those who missed the illuminated panel in the window can’t miss the huge banner above the checkouts: “World’s Luckiest 7 Eleven”. 7 Eleven is a famous chain of grocery stores in the United States and Asia, where you can buy tickets for the Mega Millions prize pool, the American equivalent of Euromillions. The kitty amounts, Friday, July 29, to a billion dollars.
The jackpot for Friday’s US Mega Millions lottery draw crossed the $1 billion mark, making it the fourth-biggest win ever, its organizer announced. #AFP pic.twitter.com/9D54CHfes6
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 27, 2022
In California, in Chino Hills, a small town an hour from Los Angeles, the doorbell at the entrance to 7 Eleven keeps ringing. And if the grocery store is full on this day of big money, it’s because customers are hoping that lightning strikes twice in the same place.
Because it was in this grocery store that someone had bought a winning ticket in 2016, the last time the amount of the lottery had reached comparable heights. At the time, Balbir Atwal, the owner, had collected a million himself. A sum shared, however, with the 7 Eleven franchise, its employees and the Tax Department. “On each ticket sold, we get 6%, explains the manager. But if customers buy a hot dog or a soda at the same time, that’s where the money is mostly made. I come when there is a large sum and today it issays Ronnie, a regular customer at the grocery store.
“If you want to win, you’re going to win. It doesn’t matter where you play. I believe God has a plan, so who knows?”
In the flood of customers of the day, there are therefore regulars, like Ronnie, and then those who made the trip to Chino Hills on purpose. This is the case of Fernando, a Mexican tourist, who made a detour between a family celebration and a day at Disneyland. “Honestly, that would be too much money to spend by the end of my life”he says.
Rest assured, the odds of hitting the jackpot are one in 300,000 million. And the lucky winner will have to agree to spread their winnings over 30 years to pocket the full billion dollars. If he doesn’t want to wait, he or she will have to settle for a smaller check… for $600 million.
In Chino Hills, California, customers are hoping to win the jackpot thanks to the “luckiest 7 Eleven in the world” – Reporting by Loïc Pialat
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