Charities among winners when Lottery hopefuls on Long Island form pool

Sharing is no lost art in Old Bethpage where for the fourth time in a row hundreds of Lottery hopefuls have joined forces, vying not only for the life-will-never-be-the-same-jackpots but for charity.

Everyone contributes $12, with $10 buying tickets and $2 going to charity, explained Ali Kusinitz, 50, of Old Bethpage, by telephone Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, about 850 people were participating, buying tickets for the Powerball, Mega Millions or both, Kusinitz said, adding that she uses a spread sheet to keep track of players. More could sign up as Kusinitz’s following has grown since she helped found the initiative in 2016.

The charity, "was part of the fun, to bring everyone out together."

Initially, buying school supplies was considered but storage and logistical considerations prompted the group to mainly stick with cash gifts that are boosted by any stray winnings that don’t amount to the jackpot but can add up to a few hundred dollars.

As for the organizations supported: "We try to spread it around," she said. "We try keep it a little bit local, try to keep it a little bit not local."

Beneficiaries have included St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the local fire department, and for the homeless, Birthday Wishes on Long Island in Hicksville and Long Island Coalition for the Homeless in Amityville.

On Wednesday night, the $730 million Powerball winner could be drawn at 11 p.m., a gaming official said by email.

And the Mega Millions, totaling $970 million, will be drawn Friday night at 11 p.m.

This year’s lottery festivities have been dampened by the novel coronavirus.

"Online you can have a little bit of excitement with it [but] we’re definitely missing the sense of everybody coming together, that sense of community," the organizer said. Previously, "There would be very long lines because everyone wanted to part of something."

When the Mega Millions top prize climbed to an estimated $865 million on Tuesday, The Associated Press said it was the biggest jackpot in more than two years. Powerball, the other lottery game offered in most of the U.S. states, isn’t far behind at $730 million.

It’s the first time both lottery jackpots have topped $700 million. The biggest prize was a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot won by three people in 2016.

No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since Sept. 15, allowing the prize to grow larger and larger over four months. The last Powerball jackpot winner was a day later, on Sept. 16.

Such big jackpots are rare, but both games rely on incredibly long odds to generate attention and increase sales. For Mega Millions, the odds of matching all six numbers is one in 302.5 million, and for Powerball it’s one in 292.2 million.

Although the odds of winning may be long, it wouldn’t be the first time a pool from Long Island bucked the odds. In 2011, 20 employees at a Costco in Melville split a $201.9 million Powerball jackpot.