Lottery ticket buyers stood in line July 28, 1998, at Lottoland in Franklin, near the Tennessee line, to buy tickets for an estimated $250 million Powerball jackpot. Store owner Don Spears said he sold $50,000 to $60,000 worth of Powerball tickets daily during the frenzy. From the moment the doors opened at 8 a.m. to closing time at 10 p.m., players lingered in the Lottoland parking lot, awaiting their chance to tread the worn red carpet from the front door to the lottery registers in back. Spears kept the doors locked to satisfy the fire marshal, opening it for only two dozen people at a time. When they reached the L-shaped counter with the registers, they pulled out rolls of ten-, twenty- and hundred-dollar bills. “One guy spent $8,000,” Spears said. “He had cash.” Kentucky Lottery spokesman Rick Redman said Lottoland, a quarter-mile from an Interstate 65 exit just north of the Tennessee line, was one of the biggest lottery sellers in the state. It remains open today. A group of machinists who called themselves The Lucky 13 stepped forward to claim the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot — the biggest prize to that date. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff