Tonight's Mega-Millions jackpot has boosted ticket sales at Indiana's convenience stores.
But the Hoosier Lottery is considering a new system that would allow you to buy lotto tickets through the web.
On Sunday, the Illinois Lottery launched a system that allows people to buy lottery tickets online.
A spokesperson from Hoosier Lottery says they are watching to see how it works.
But store employees say it could cause too many problems.
"It's just because the jackpot's so high," says Kari Craig.
Tonight's Mega-Millions jackpot sits at $363 million.
"But even today since I've come in, we've had people spending twenty dollars on it. That's not normal," says store employee Matt Renfer.
People say they're spending a lot of money for a chance at the big prize.
"At work, we usually get a pool together, and when it gets high, like today, we got 85 tickets, five dollars apiece," says Mike Haag.
"There's people coming in to buy ten, twenty, thirty dollars' worth of tickets and there's some people that spend $100, $100-200 on tickets," says store employee Ashley Boltkamp.
Hundreds to thousands of dollars collected by convenience stores each day.
But that could change.
On Sunday, the Illinois Lottery debuted an online-play system, which allows people to fund an account, play lottery games, and collect winnings, all from home.
Al Larsen of Hoosier Lottery says Indiana is monitoring the system in Illinois, and is considering its own similar system.
"We've been monitoring development and watching what the other lotteries have done. We have a lot of research to do on our own yet and certainly our 4000 retailers are of key importance to our business and that will be a big part of the discussions we have internally in regards to all this as a possible sales channel," says Larsen.
Convenience store employees say they're skeptical.
"Instead of people driving out of their way to get lottery tickets, just being able to go on online, that is going to have an impact," Renfer says.
"I actually think it would bring down gas stations, because people come in to buy the lottery tickets and to see us, and we talk them into buying the tickets," Boltkamp says.
The multi-state Mega-Millions drawing is less than an hour away, and retailers and players say they all hope someone from Indiana wins the prize.
This isn't the largest the state has ever seen.
In January of 2011, somebody won $380 million.
The largest North American prize ever was a $390 million Mega-Millions jackpot in 2007.
But the Hoosier Lottery is considering a new system that would allow you to buy lotto tickets through the web.
On Sunday, the Illinois Lottery launched a system that allows people to buy lottery tickets online.
A spokesperson from Hoosier Lottery says they are watching to see how it works.
But store employees say it could cause too many problems.
"It's just because the jackpot's so high," says Kari Craig.
Tonight's Mega-Millions jackpot sits at $363 million.
"But even today since I've come in, we've had people spending twenty dollars on it. That's not normal," says store employee Matt Renfer.
People say they're spending a lot of money for a chance at the big prize.
"At work, we usually get a pool together, and when it gets high, like today, we got 85 tickets, five dollars apiece," says Mike Haag.
"There's people coming in to buy ten, twenty, thirty dollars' worth of tickets and there's some people that spend $100, $100-200 on tickets," says store employee Ashley Boltkamp.
Hundreds to thousands of dollars collected by convenience stores each day.
But that could change.
On Sunday, the Illinois Lottery debuted an online-play system, which allows people to fund an account, play lottery games, and collect winnings, all from home.
Al Larsen of Hoosier Lottery says Indiana is monitoring the system in Illinois, and is considering its own similar system.
"We've been monitoring development and watching what the other lotteries have done. We have a lot of research to do on our own yet and certainly our 4000 retailers are of key importance to our business and that will be a big part of the discussions we have internally in regards to all this as a possible sales channel," says Larsen.
Convenience store employees say they're skeptical.
"Instead of people driving out of their way to get lottery tickets, just being able to go on online, that is going to have an impact," Renfer says.
"I actually think it would bring down gas stations, because people come in to buy the lottery tickets and to see us, and we talk them into buying the tickets," Boltkamp says.
The multi-state Mega-Millions drawing is less than an hour away, and retailers and players say they all hope someone from Indiana wins the prize.
This isn't the largest the state has ever seen.
In January of 2011, somebody won $380 million.
The largest North American prize ever was a $390 million Mega-Millions jackpot in 2007.
