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Customers have been flocking to Brad Jiwani’s liquor store on Chicago Avenue in Naperville this week, hoping a wee bit more luck of the Irish can rub off for Friday’s Mega Millions lottery drawing.
Jiwani sat inside Solo Liquor, a store he’s owned since 2014, watching Mega Millions jackpot climb Thursday from $900 million in the morning to $970 million by late afternoon.
With all the people buying tickets, Jiwani expects the jackpot will rise above the $1 billion mark by the time the numbers are drawn at 10 p.m. Friday.
Jiwani said the number of people coming into his store over the past week has doubled since the Mega Millions jackpot hit $700 million.
“People think this is a lucky store,” he said.
That’s because a customer last spring won $1 million in the St. Patrick’s Day Millionaire Raffle.
Ask Lu Besiri, and she’ll tell you luck is headed to her 7-Eleven, just a few doors to the east of Solo Liquors in the same strip mall.
With the winning St. Patrick’s Day raffle ticket being sold at Solo and a second winner purchasing a winning ticket less than five miles to the east at Leo’s Wines & Spirits, 3018 Hobson Road in Woodridge, it’s her turn to sell a winning ticket for a big cash prize, Besiri said.
She’s seen 200 to 300 more customers in the past few days since the jackpots for the Mega Millions and Powerball games have climbed so high. (The Powerball jackpot for Saturday is estimated at $430 million.)
“They always tell me I won’t forget you when I win,” Besiri said. “I do believe my customers.”
Besiri, who’s owned and operated the 7-Eleven for the last 17 years, said the times people stop by to buy tickets ebbs and flows.
Some customers come in immediately after they find out there was no winner. “Some people want to play on the day of the drawing,” she said.
“I really don’t care when they buy their tickets as long as they win here,” Besiri said.
The lump cash payout for a $970 million jackpot would be $548 million.
Should the lucky winner hail from Naperville and decide they want to stay in town, the most expensive house on the market today is a six-bedroom, eight-and-a-half bath custom mansion on the city’s south side. For just under $6.8 million, the 21,089-square-foot home set on 2.9 acres features such amenities as a home theater, exercise and rec rooms, and nine over-sized garages with radiant heat for the cars.
And Kory Bonselaar, owner of Naperville Italian Motorworks, will be more than happy to help a Mega Millions winner fill that garage some of the best Italian-crafted cars on the market.
The best car on the lot, he said, is the 2018 Maserati GranTurismo MC with a list price of $160,997. It’s one of only 75 built.
In neighboring Aurora, Thursday sales the Mega Millions game were a bit inconsistent.
John Seifrid, who was at the register Thursday afternoon at the Pride of Aurora BP on Butterfield Road, said sales had actually been slow.
“Actually I have seen stronger sales for other (lottery) drawings than this one, but I imagine there will be more tomorrow before the jackpot drawing,” Seifrid said. “There may be less people buying tickets today, but those who are buying are buying more of them.”
Aurora resident Jerry Hughes elected to purchase five tickets along with his gas.
Hughes said he’s a fairly regular player who “buys tickets 20 to 30 times a year.”
“I don’t know if I’m buying tickets because I think I’ll win the money,” Hughes said. “I think people do this because it’s all about the chase. In the end, it’s all just dumb luck, but someone has to win.”
Freelance reporter David Sharos contributed.
Twitter @SbakerSun
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