Community Corner

Vernon Stop & Shop Sells Top Prize Winning Lotto Ticket

When a Manchester resident came home from work on St. Patrick's Day, she found out she was lucky indeed.

Christina Desaulniers of Manchester came home from work on March 17 like it was any other day. 

"The 4 o’clock news was on TV and I heard they were getting ready to do the 50/50 drawing,” Desaulniers told Lottery officials.  “I went and grabbed my ticket and turned it upside down in my hand. As they announced the winning number, I wrote it down on a piece of paper — then I turned my ticket over and looked at my number."

When she saw that the numbers matched, she started to cry.

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"Then I checked it about a hundred more times,” Desaulniers said with a laugh.

Her 50/50 Super Draw ticket number — 003380 — was randomly selected from a pool of 97,024 tickets and won the top prize worth 50 percent of the game’s total sales — $242,560.

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Desaulniers and her husband, Bob, arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill on Wednesday, March 20, and claimed their 50/50 Super Draw prize for $242,560, the value before taxes.

“Winning this prize is like a big weight has been lifted off of us,” said a teary-eyed Desaulniers.  “We’ll be able to pay off our bills and finally get caught up.”

Desaulniers purchased her 50/50 Super Draw ticket at Stop & Shop #613, located at 10 Pitkin Road in Vernon — the same lottery retailer that sold Rinaldo and Lorraine Fierro of East Hartford their Lucky for Life 2nd prize winning draw ticket worth $25,000 a year for life on February 10, according to CT Lottery.

For selling Desaulniers her top prize winning ticket, Stop & Shop #613 will receive a $2,426 bonus check from the CT Lottery.

Ticket sales for the 50/50 Super Draw game began on Sunday, January 12, and ended on Sunday, March 16. A total of 97,024 tickets were sold for $5 each.


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