For the second time this year, Buter County residents are flocking to stores to take a chance at winning a lottery drawing worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $540 million for the annuity or $357 million cash after 34 consecutive drawings without a winner.

The next drawing will be 11 p.m. today.

It is the seventh-largest lottery jackpot ever in the multistate lottery. Earlier this year the Powerball jackpot reached a record-setting $1.6 billion.

Melca Butler, manager of the 7-Eleven store at the intersection of Route 19 and Glen Eden Road in Cranberry Township, said sales were unusually low over the Fourth of July weekend, but have picked up this week.

During the store’s 2 to 10 p.m. shift Wednesday, it sold $1,063 in lottery tickets, which was its largest daily tally for the month so far.

Butler said she anticipates a lot of customers will be buying tickets today, which is usually the case when there is a large jackpot.

In 2003 the store sold a ticket that won $260 million, a fact that several customers on Thursday still remembered.

Tim Smith of Cranberry bought a Mega Millions ticket Thursday at the 7-Eleven.

Smith knows it is a long shot to win, but he has a friend and a neighbor who both won large jackpots.

“The odds are terrible, so I only spend $1 or $2 every once in a while,” he said.

Also in Cranberry, Smoker Friendly on Route 19 expects to be busy today.

“It’s pretty steady throughout the day,” employee Shannon Rogers said.

Rogers said although the store has not sold a grand prize-winning ticket, it has sold two $10,000 scratch-off winners in the past year, one last August and the other in June.

“It’s paycheck Friday, and the Mega Millions are on that day,” Rogers said.

At Tony DiLulio’s Exxon Car Care Center and convenience store in Zelienople, manager Donna Rum said lottery ticket sales triple on drawing day.

“We should be busy today,” Rum said. “You’ve got to have hope.”

The store sold a Cash 5 ticket worth $125,000 about two years ago.

Harmony resident Bill Yurich said he has been playing the lottery for about 20 years.

“I would quit working, that’s for sure,” Yurich said of his plans if he won the grand prize. “I would retire.”

Sam Abernethy of Harrisville said he only buys lottery tickets when he hears there is a bigger than usual jackpot.

Abernethy said he would probably retire from working if he won.

“I don’t think I’d buy another house, but maybe I’d knock mine down and have someone build a fresh one,” he said.

Nick Cooter, 23, of Butler bought his lottery ticket at the GetGo gas station and convenience store on North Main Street Extension in Butler. He said the lottery isn’t a habit for him.

“Only when it is a big jackpot,” he said. “A couple dollars for a chance to win that much is well worth it.”

Cooter said if he were to win, he would make sure his family was taken care of, but he would also put money toward his future.

“I would invest it into property and business,” he said. “I have always had a dream of owning a golf course and a bowling alley, but I would diversify what type of business I would open.”

Heather Shaffer, 31, of Butler bought her lottery tickets at the Honey Bear gas station on East Jefferson Street.

Shaffer said she bought her first lottery ticket when she turned 18 because she could legally do so for the first time. She said this jackpot was too big to ignore, and she had some spare cash.

Shaffer said she would be smart with the money if she won.

“I would find a professional to help me make sound financial decisions and go back to school,” she said.

An estimated $1 billion in tickets have been sold since the last winning ticket was drawn in early March. This is the longest Mega Millions run without a winner.

Tickets are sold in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Eagle staff writers Joe Genco, Amerigo Allegretto and Nathan Bottiger contributed to this report.