$55-Million Jackpot Spurs Lotto Players : Chance: O.C. joins rush for prize that is first to reach such a level for second time in the same year.

Audez Lozano would take a Polynesian vacation. Paul Delcoure would finance a baseball team. And Tuesday Wagner would quit her job as a waitress, buy a new home and probably start a business of her own.

“No more slinging cocktails,” said Wagner, 33, of Costa Mesa. “It’s something to look forward to.”

The three were among the millions of Californians, including tens of thousands in Orange County, who descended on liquor stores, supermarkets and retail outlets Tuesday to buy chances at winning the $55-million jackpot up for grabs in tonight’s Super Lotto drawing.

For only the second time in the California Lottery’s 10-year history the drawing will be conducted before a live audience, at the California State Fair in Sacramento. It will be televised at 7:57 p.m. on 11 channels throughout the state.

“It’s an opportunity to take the game to the people and focus on the excitement,” said Bob Taylor, a lottery spokesman. “Lotto fever is a high-excitement period.”

It is also the first time in Lotto history, Taylor said, that the jackpot--which usually hovers between $7 million and $8 million--has exceeded $50 million twice in the same year. Just last month, a Redding schoolteacher and a group of 15 deli workers from Agoura Hills split a $58-million jackpot.

Californians responded to the prospect of this week’s bonanza by purchasing an estimated $10 million worth of lottery tickets on Tuesday, compared to the usual $1 million to $2 million worth.

“To have two occurrences like this so close together is very unusual,” Taylor said.

A steady stream of Orange County lottery ticket buyers poured into places such as Baycrest Liquor in Newport Beach, where owner Joe Spadafor reported Lotto sales about three times the usual volume for a weekday.

“It’s very busy, very brisk,” said Spadafor, whose store features a banner out front advertising past wins for his customers of $12.6 million, $6.2 million, $3.1 million and $76,000. “Everybody likes it when the pot gets big,” Spadafor said, “because people like dreaming about it when it’s this much money.”

That was certainly true of Chip Nedeau, 38, a salesman from Newport Beach who bought $10 worth of tickets instead of his usual $2. “I guess it’s cheap entertainment,” he said. “It gives you a hope and a dream. If I win, I’ll pay off my debts and travel the world.”

Newport Beach businessman Bob McCray, 53, said he had mixed feelings about the prospect of winning the lottery.

“The money would probably be a problem,” he said. “I’d probably have a heart attack and die.”

Delcoure, 30, of Costa Mesa would like to pay the expenses of the struggling amateur baseball team he plays on. “The two bucks won’t break me, and maybe I’ll get lucky,” he said.

And Stephen Krupnick of Laguna Beach said he couldn’t even begin to fathom the significance of winning that amount of money. “I can’t imagine it,” said Krupnick, 49, whose company sells mail-order gifts. “What do you do when someone hands you a check for $55 million? I wouldn’t know where to start.”