America's ‘luckiest’ island diner is turning customers into millionaires, one lottery ticket at a time
Since March 2024, the Old South Diner has sold five winning lottery tickets worth $1 million or more
A lucky Nantucket resident named Mary Haley won $2 million in the Powerball lottery, but more than her, the place she bought the ticket from has been making headlines. Well, we are talking about Old South Diner, the famous restaurant that has become a top spot for purchasing lottery tickets in Massachusetts. Surprisingly, in the last two years, the place, including Haley's, has sold a total of five winning lottery tickets worth $1 million or more, Powerball confirmed on March 25.
Haley, who is reportedly planning to use some of her money to buy a new car, said she's "excited" that a local like her has won the life-changing amount. Moreover, she confirmed that the Old South Diner is no longer a simple eatery, but it has turned into a place where locals love to buy lottery tickets in hopes of winning big. Surprisingly, ticket sales have increased by 37% since the restaurant established itself as a lucky lottery ticket-selling counter.
Notably, Haley had initially won only $1 million after the first five numbers on her ticket matched the drawing. But later, she opted for something called the Power Play option for an additional $1 million, drawing a total of $2 million from the game.
Haley's win is especially special because the Old South Diner, the place where she got the ticket from, has already sold two lottery tickets that won $2 million and three that won $1 million in the last two years. "The more tickets a store sells, the more likely they are to have a big winner. The Old South Diner has consistently been among the top 10% of agents in recent years," Rachel Guerra, the Massachusetts Lottery’s deputy director of communications, said.
Superstitious beliefs are very common in lottery games. In fact, a study on 110 Thai lottery gamblers found that 80% of participants reported engaging in various superstitious behaviors in hopes of winning the game. "Not only did they identify at least one superstitious behavior they engage in, but they also practiced their superstitious behavior before, during and after a lottery purchase," the study found. Moreover, researchers observed that lottery players with greater superstitious beliefs gambled more frequently than those with fewer or no superstitious beliefs. Now, while it isn't certain whether lottery players prefer buying tickets from the Old South Diner because they believe it will increase their chances of winning, it's clear that many players do rely on personal beliefs when making decisions, especially in luck-based games.
For the Old South Diner, the series of big wins began on March 11, 2024, when Jose Fontanez bought a $1 million scratch ticket from the Old South Diner. Three months later, just like Haley, Garen Downnie from Hyannis also claimed a $2 million prize after playing a "Lifetime Millions" scratch ticket from the Massachusetts restaurant. Similarly, Sean Durnin won a $1 million prize in a lottery on August 20, 2024, followed by Yancy Contreras Menjivar a few weeks later.
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