The luck of thousands of people rested on a small card and six numbers Wednesday as droves of people lined up to play the second highest lottery in state history.

Students, professors and DeKalb residents crowded the aisles of The Bottle Store, 1022 W. Lincoln Hwy. and the 7-Eleven Food Store, 930 Annie Glidden Road, to buy Lotto tickets for a jackpot of $63 million to a single winner.

Darryl Sanchez, a senior sociology major, was confident as he stood at a table off to the side at The Bottle Store choosing his numbers, before buying $4 worth of chances.

“I think I have an excellent chance of winning because when you go and play anything you have to have confidence—without confidence in yourself, you can’t do it,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said if a number pops in his head, he goes with it.

Jim Kelly, a senior economics major, works as a cashier at The Bottle Store. But Kelly had an easy night Wednesday as he watched people go to the Lotto line instead of the liquor line.

Kelly said there were at least ten people in the Lotto line every five minutes. Kelly had about five customers in his line in the two hours that he had been there.

The Bottle Store sold over 3,000 lotto tickets Wednesday. He said one person bought $150 worth of tickets.

Kelly said he has seen people using all sorts of strategies. He said one person was making the letter ‘K’ on her card because it was her last initial, others were using birthdates to fill out their cards and he even saw one person using a Lotto information sheet from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kelley Eliel, a junior biology major, tried her luck at quick pick for the third time in her life. She said if she wins she is going to pay for her roommate’s schooling, take a vacation and pay back her parents.

The winning Lotto numbers Wednesday were 25-26-38-43-49-50.