Thousands head for Arizona border in search of riches

Will Oremus

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

WHITE HILLS, Ariz. -- Odds are none of the more than 1,000 people who lined up at Rosie's Den on Tuesday will win tonight's $250 million Powerball lottery drawing.

But that doesn't stop Southern Nevadans from flocking to this desert outpost to snap up tickets every time the jackpot looks appetizing.

Hitch Larsen, son of owner Rose Larsen, calls the charmingly dilapidated den "a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood." On days like Tuesday, the neighborhood might as well be called southeast Las Vegas.

"We're the closest lottery outlet to the biggest gambling city in the world," Larsen said. Pointing to the line that stretched from the ticket counter to the dusty parking lot outside, he said, "All of 'em are from Las Vegas."

While not entirely true -- a handful of customers came from Utah, California or elsewhere in Nevada -- Larsen's comment highlighted many Las Vegans' keen taste for monster payouts.

"When it gets this big, we get a lot of people coming out of the woodwork," Larsen said, needling a regular lottery customer who stood next to him. Like dozens of other Las Vegas Valley residents, the customer has frequented Rose's enough to know the owners personally.

"We get a lot of friends down here, people you become friends with over time," Larsen said.

The friends are drawn to Rosie's by the chance of winning the nation's largest lottery, but Larsen insists that they return in part because of the food and the company.

"We've got the best food in 100 miles -- the only food in 100 miles," he joked.

But customers like Wyndel Brooks, a 60-year-old Las Vegas postal worker, didn't drive 58 miles down U.S. 93 just for a grilled cheese.

"We know the odds are great, but it's just that one chance," Brooks said. He comes to Rosie's from time to time to buy tickets for himself and his wife, as well as 37 other workers at the post office who pitch in to an office pool.

"I've got one more year of work before I retire," he said. "Unless I win this -- then I'm going to retire tomorrow."

Cindy and Brandon Weber of Las Vegas, first-time visitors to Rosie's, said they weren't deterred by the 120 million-to-one odds.

"We're the one," said Brandon, who builds custom barbecues for a living. "We've beaten long odds before, in everyday situations."

If such optimism springs eternal, Rosie's should continue to thrive for a long time. The isolated tavern has seen business increase dramatically in recent years, and Larsen said crowds like Tuesday's can bring in over $50,000 in a single day.

"We're the largest retailer for Powerball in the country," Larsen said. Arizona Powerball officials said Rosie's was the top seller of tickets in Arizona, but could not say about the entire nation.

Rose Larsen, 77, recalled days in the 1980s when she would work a 19-hour shift for just $150 in total revenue. She said a turning point came in 1991, when she upgraded the phone system: Before that, Rosie's Den couldn't sell lottery tickets because it shared a phone line with three other parties.

Aside from the throngs that overtake the tavern a few times a year, the elder Larsen said things "haven't changed that much."

She drew a distinction between lottery-buying regulars from Las Vegas and the real regulars, Arizona residents who spend an hour at the bar every day before or after commuting to work in Las Vegas. A few turned out to "watch the show" on Tuesday, but for the most part, "they stay away" from the Powerball crowds, she said.

Rose and Hitch don't share the other locals' aversion to the spectacle.

Each said the same thing: "I love it."