Sacramento liquor store draws a crowd for billion-dollar Lottery jackpot

Customers are lining up at a little Sacramento liquor store, hoping for an edge as they chase the biggest jackpot in lottery history.

The national Powerball jackpot is now up to $1.4 billion, more than double the previous U.S. record of $656 million from a Mega Millions jackpot in 2012.

Since 2000, three winning tickets of $1 million or more have been sold at Lichine’s Liquor and Deli at South Land Park Drive and Florin Road in Sacramento. Lottery customers have come to view the place as a lucky charm.

Kien Lo has been working as a manager at Lichine’s for more than 26 years. Historically, he said, the line for lottery tickets has looped around the building and gone into the parking lot.

Lo normally opens the doors at 9 a.m., but on Monday he bowed to demand and opened at 8:45 a.m. “There were 20 cars when I arrived at 8,” he said.

During the last fiscal year, the California Lottery ranked Lichine’s in the top 20 retailers statewide in terms of volume during jackpot runs.

Lisa Morris, a fiscal analyst for the state, is participating in a lottery pool at work. “This is supposed to be the lucky store,” Morris said as she stood at the end of the line.

More than 4.3 million Powerball tickets were sold in the state on Monday before noon, totaling over $8.7 million, according to California Lottery officials.

The next Powerball drawing will take place at 7:59 p.m. Wednesday.

Editor’s note (Jan. 13): The time of the drawing has been corrected.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Sacramento liquor store draws a crowd for billion-dollar Lottery jackpot."