ROCKY HILL — For the second time since in less than two months, a Manchester resident has claimed a $1,000,000 Powerball prize by purchasing a ticket with five winning numbers.
“I’m just glad to be one of them,” said Gregory Clauss, Connecticut’s third and final $1,000,000 winner from the January 13 mega-jackpot drawing. “It’s a big relief. I wasn’t ready for retirement, but now I am.”
On January 13, Clauss’ ticket missed the Powerball number, 10, but matched the first five numbers drawn, 4 – 8 – 19 – 27 – 34. Of the 350,629 prize-winning Powerball tickets sold in Connecticut for that date, three, including Clauss’, contained a 5 number match for the $1,000,000 prize.
“I’ve been playing the same numbers for years,” said Clauss. “The Saturday before was my birthday. I played Powerball then, hoping to win the jackpot, but I didn’t win. So, I tried again on Wednesday. It was a great belated birthday present.”
Clauss, who has been employed for the last 33 years in the produce department at Stop & Shop, East Hartford, said he showed up for work Thursday morning and shared the good news with his fellow employees. “I told everybody—news spread very quickly throughout the store.”
DB Mart on Center St. in Manchester is also feeling pretty lucky for Clauss’ good fortune. For selling Clauss his $1,000,000 prize winning ticket the store will receive a $2,500 check from the CT Lottery.
“This is wonderful news,” said DB Mart store manager Danny Pahore. “I’m really happy that someone from Connecticut won $1,000,000, and especially happy that it was my store that sold the winning ticket.”
In November, Daniella Maury, another Manchester resident, also claimed a Powerball $1,000,000 prize.
Since the new Powerball game began October 4, 2015, Connecticut has sold nine (9) Powerball “Match 5” wins, each worth $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 apiece. Three of those prizes still remain unclaimed:
- Drawing on Jan. 9: $1,000,000 prize sold in Fairfield County
- Drawing on Jan. 9: $2,000,000 prize sold in Hartford County
- Drawing on Dec. 5: $1,000,000 prize sold in Fairfield County
The overall odds of winning a Powerball prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning a Powerball Match 5 prize are 1 in 11,688,054. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.
