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On Jan. 28, J. Woodard of Norwalk -- lottery officials did not release the first name -- arrived at lottery headquarters to claim the prize.
“I woke up early on Sunday. I couldn’t sleep,” Woodard told lottery officials when he picked up the prize. “When I saw no one won the Powerball jackpot, I had a weird feeling that maybe I won something. So, I went to a retailer, scanned my ticket in a ticket checker and saw I won $1,000,000. I scanned it twice to be sure — then I ran out of the store and went home. When I saw my wife she asked what was wrong, I told her, ‘We won a million dollars!’”
The winning Powerball numbers on Jan. 24 were 16 - 19 - 20 - 29 - 33, the Powerball number was 10. Woodard’s first five “birthday” numbers were a perfect match, but he missed the Powerball number.
In total, 12,891 winning Powerball tickets were sold statewide for that date with prizes ranging from $4 to $1,000,000.
“It was a beautiful day,” Woodard said, recalling his momentous win. “Life is good.”
Woodard’s plans for his $1,000,000 prize win were simple: “I’m going to pay off the house, put money away for the kid’s college fund, and save the rest for a cushion.”
Since the new Powerball game began on Jan. 15, 2012, Connecticut has sold 23 prize winning tickets each worth $1,000,000, plus another seven tickets that were “Power Played” for the game’s $2,000,000 prize.
Woodard’s winning ticket was purchased at Spring Hill Liquor on 1 Spring Hill Ave. in Norwalk. For selling the ticket, Spring Hill Liquor will receive a check from the CT Lottery for $2,500.
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