SCOTT SEXTON Winston-Salem Journal

John Hayes walked out of Carlton’s Tanglewood, a convenience store in Clemmons, with a mischievous smile while carefully tucking the key to his future into his wallet.

Or so he hoped.

“Don’t even bother,” he told several people piling into the store to trade hard-earned cash for a shot at a pipe dream. “I got the winner right here.”

He didn’t. Nobody won the whole enchilada. Another drawing will be held today.

The dream, of course, would be that despite astronomical odds — 1 in 292 million — Hayes managed to correctly pick five numbers and the Powerball to win a $1.1 billion jackpot.

Of course, Hayes knew he had a better chance of being struck by lightning twice than banking the billion.

The winner would pocket $498.4 million after taxes if taken i

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