Toronto bakery serves Powerball tickets to customers who spend more than $20

World Class Bakers are known for their butter tarts and banana bread but that's not the only reason for the lineups inside andoutsidetheir Toronto store onTuesday.

No Powerball ticket? Head to the bakery

9 years ago

Duration 3:58

Lisa Guluzian, owner of a Toronto bakery, adds a slender chance for riches to every $20 order at her shop

The St. ClairAvenueWest bakery has decided to spread some cheer by giving away hundreds of tickets for the$1.5 billion USPowerball lottery in the United Statesto customers who spend at least $20. The draw for the largest jackpot in history takes placeWednesday.

• $1.5B US jackpot drawsOntariansto N.Y.
• Manitobansline up to win $1.4BPowerballjackpot

"We've decided the baker's gonna give away the dough," owner Lisa Guluzian told CBC News. "I hope that someone from this group wins. We're gonna take it all away from the Americans."

One customer who didn't give his name was one of 500 lucky people who got a ticket. The bakery saidall the tickets had been claimed bymid-afternoon Tuesday.

'Chance of a lifetime'

"It's a chance of a lifetime," the man told CBC News."I waited in line for about an hour."

Guluzian explained the reasoning behind the giveaway.

"It's January, everyone's depressed after the holidays but look at all the cheerful people here," she said. "Whether or not they win, they're having a good time for a few minutes. It's a little tiresome but it's fun."

Guluzian said she bought a ticket for herself and said that if she won, she would "give some to her staff, pay off the bills, pay off the rent and do whatever is necessary to keep them in business."

If you didn't get a Powerball ticket on Tuesday, don't worry.

Manager Suzanne King said the promotion was so successful thatshe was planning on driving to Buffalo Tuesday eveningto buy 500 more tickets.

The Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the game, says the odds of having the winning Powerball ticket are one in more than 292 million.