NATCHEZ — Hopeful faces lined up at Vidalia gas stations Wednesday afternoon, all dreaming of winning the record-high $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot.

Exxon gas station attendant Deborah Bishop said the lines at the store had been lengthening as the drawing drew nearer. A handwritten “Lottery is cash only” sign hung by her register.

“It’s been all week,” Bishop said. “One second it’s slacked off, and the next it’s coming out the door. I don’t know where everybody’s coming from.”

Many of her customers, it turns out, were coming from across the river.

Mississippi is one of six states in the nation where lottery tickets are not sold.

“Mississippi’s behind on everything,” said Mary Nichols, a Natchez lottery player. Nichols said if she won, she would first donate 10 percent of her earnings to her church.

“Got to put the Lord first,” Nichols said. She was in line to buy only one ticket, unlike many of the customers around her.

“It just takes one ticket to win,” she said.

“We’re trying to win,” Natchez resident Joe Earl Williams said as he waited to buy his tickets. “I hope someone in this area does. I’ve been playing it as long as I can remember.”

Bishop said she sold a million-dollar ticket several months ago, bought by a man who was passing through to New Orleans.

A Natchez construction worker named Josh Nuijens said his community would be a priority for him if he became a billionaire Wednesday night.

“I’d donate about half the money to schools in Mississippi,” Nuijens said. “And the other half I’d give to family and friends. It’s just too much money, I mean, what are you going to do with it?”

Financial adviser Forrest Johnson III knows exactly what the winner should do with the money.

“First thing you got to do is get a team of professional advisers,” Johnson said.

Some big jackpot winners have found themselves broke two years after winning, Johnson said, because they spend the money unwisely. He recommends investing the entire prize, and living off of the earnings and interest from the investments.

“It’s all about cash flow,” Johnson said. “If you deplete the principal, at some point, no matter how much money it is, you can spend it.”

Johnson also cautions against all the fair-weather friends that may come out of the woodwork after a big win.

“Take a deep breath, and you don’t have to claim your ticket immediately, so get your game plan in place first,” Johnson said. “You want to mitigate the euphoria, because you can become a target.”