Florida buzzing over Powerball jackpot

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - With POWERBALL set to offer its second largest jackpot in the history of the game Wednesday, Nov. 28, eager Pensacola residents crowded convenience stores to try to get their hands on the winning ticket.

Self-admittedly, Sandy Dougherty suffers from bad luck, a condition many of us share.  But with the POWERBALL jackpot over half a billion, even she couldn’t resist.

“I'm hoping to win," Dougherty said.  "I don’t have much good luck, but I’m going to try.”

With the jackpot up to $550 million, this is the largest POWERBALL pot ever offered, and the second-highest in lottery history.

And of course, everyone has their ideas of how they’d spend the money.  Mansions and yachts topped the list for many folks, but first time player Don Gage has other ideas.

“I’ve got six children, 14 grandchildren, and five great-children, so I’m going to split it up amongst all of them, and give the other $500 million to my lawyer," Gage said.

Richard Dellisanti has two priorities: making his son smile on Christmas and donating to a special organization.  A recovering addict, Dellisanti would use the money to give back to Pathways for Change, a Pensacola program that saved his life.

“(It would mean) just as much as it meant to them to give back to me, to give to me," Dellisanti said.  "It’d be a mission to be able to give back to them in any way that I can.”

Tickets will be sold up until 9 p.m. Wednesday night with the final drawing just before 10 p.m.