Lottery offers biggest holiday gift of all

Heather Rawlyk

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003 | 10:58 a.m.

For more information, visit the website at www.powerball.com

WHITE HILLS, Ariz. -- Locals flocked across the Nevada state line Tuesday to Rosie's Den, a small cafe in this tiny outpost, with one Christmas wish: to win the $137 million Christmas Eve Powerball prize.

"All of my customers for the Powerball come from Las Vegas," said Rose Larsen, owner of Rosie's Den. "They're all coming now for the Christmas Eve Powerball. They all want to win for Christmas. That's a given."

Larsen said while today was expected to be the cafe's busiest day, the small eatery has already seen plenty of Las Vegas-area residents with their eyes on the prize.

"We've had a lot of people coming, getting tickets by the thousands," Larsen said. "A lot of groups pool together -- federal workers, doctors and nurses, too. They all pool money together and send someone here to buy all the tickets."

Manuel Castillo, 41, an audio-visual technician at the Aladdin hotel-casino, took the one-hour drive to purchase tickets for his co-workers in the engineering department.

"We've been coming down to Rosie's Den for Powerball for five years," Castillo said. "There are eight of us in the engineering department at work. We all pooled in $5 each, so I bought $40 in tickets today for the group. We're all thinking this would be one amazing Christmas present."

But it's a present that will be extremely difficult to obtain. Based on the odds, Powerball players are more likely to die from a lightning strike or a bee sting than win the lottery jackpot.

People have a 1 in 120.5 million chance of winning the Powerball jackpot, compared with a 1 in 6 million chance of dying fro a bee sting or a 1 in 2 million chance of being killed by a lightning strike.

A Kansas native, Castillo said he has long been familiar with Powerball and its long odds.

"I am from Kansas and also lived in Colorado, so I'm used to living somewhere that has Powerball," he said. "When I moved here, I asked around and heard about Rosie's Den at mile marker 28. I always volunteer to come down here to get the tickets. I have a buddy who goes to California and gets tickets there sometimes too."

Castillo wasn't the only Las Vegan who's made a tradition of getting Powerball tickets at Rosie's Den.

Laura Bramson and her husband made the trip across the Hoover Dam Tuesday night with a pool of money from their friends.

"We've been coming here for five years," Bramson said. "Everyone pooled in money and we got $45 in tickets. Personally we got $5 in tickets. We're crossing our fingers."

Bramson and the others are hoping to follow the good fortune of Amy Nishimura, 71, who won $8.9 million Monday morning playing Megabucks at the Fremont hotel-casino.

"What a lucky woman," Bramson said. "Of course we are hoping the luck will continue for people in Las Vegas. I hope we're next. It would make a great Christmas."

Gary Mattox, 53, said Nishimura's big win motivated him to pick up a Powerball ticket.

"I had thought about coming down to Rosie's when I saw the jackpot was getting so big," Mattox said. "I almost didn't come out of laziness. When I heard about that lady winning $8 million, I thought if she could win I might have a chance."

Mattox convinced his wife, Joelle, to make the trip with him.

"He usually makes this trip with one of his buddies," Joelle Mattox said. "But when he told me how big the prize was, I got excited and wanted to come along. We hear this place is lucky and I wanted to be part of it."

According to Larsen, lottery ticket buyers at her small-town shop have been known to have some luck.

In the past 12 years, Rosie's Den has had an $8.3 million winner of the Arizona Lottery, a $100,000 winner of Powerball, and several $5,000 winners in the Fantasy Five game, Larsen said. "A lot of folks come here because they think we're lucky," she said. "And you look around here and I think they're right. We are."

When asked what they would do with the money, most were quick to announce that they would retire.

"Oh, I would definitely retire and move back to Colorado," Castillo said. "I would get a summer home in Las Vegas, but I'd have to say I would move around and quit my job."

Gary and Joelle Mattox agreed.

"Are you kidding me?" Gary Mattox said. "I would retire first and then travel to all the places I've always wanted to take my wife. I'm sure my kids would expect a chunk of the change. I'm sure I'd hear from a lot of people I haven't heard from in a while."

Bramson had something else in mind.

"I would buy a home," she said. "That's what I'd do. I'd buy a home."

The lucky numbers will be announced today at 7:59 p.m. The jackpot is at $137 million given the annuity option, or $62.5 million in cash, according to Powerball representatives.