Dover, DE -- Two men from Newark each recently scored separate MULTI-WIN LOTTO jackpots over a span of just three days. The $162,025 Oct. 5 payout and $50,100 Oct. 8 prize are likely to put smiles on a few faces around town while stirring up additional Lottery interest there.
The winners (who each wish to remain anonymous) purchased their tickets just 1.5 miles away from each other at a 7-Eleven located at 202 Elkton Rd. and the Fairfield News at 421 New London Rd.
While some people valiantly play the same lottery numbers for years without reaping their reward, it took only six months for the Oct. 5 winner’s lucky digits to come through.
“About six months ago I started to see the same numbers everywhere I looked,” says the Delaware native. “Every time I’d wake up or look at my alarm clock it would be 6:33 or 7:11, or I’d be in my truck and it would be 7:22. I just saw these pairs all over and wondered if it was a sign. I told my girlfriend at the time about it and she said I should start playing the [MULTI-WIN] LOTTO.”
It turned out to be smart advice. But the 44-year-old says that when 1, 9, 11, 12, 22 and 33 finally came through he wasn’t sure what to do.
“I walked into the store where I always buy my tickets and I thought the machine was wrong or something,” he recalls. “I’m so used to seeing ‘Not a winner’ or ‘$2’ that I didn’t know what that 162025 number meant. I asked the clerk and when she told me I’d won the jackpot I couldn’t believe it.”
The man says he has no immediate plans for the money but looks forward to some more comfortable living conditions. “I’ve always wanted six months living expenses in the bank and now I’ve got it. It’s a great feeling.”
The Oct. 8 winner is an avid player who’s drawn to large prizes, but says he doesn’t usually plunk down $70 dollars for lottery tickets like he did that Friday. “That’s the most I’ve ever bought at once,” he recalls.
Although he generally relies on the Quick Pick feature, the Newark resident had some outside assistance choosing the exact six-digit combination. “I went to an online site that generates random sets of numbers and I copied a bunch of them down – maybe 20. It’s something I’ve done before and, obviously, plan to keep doing."
“I didn’t think I had the numbers right at first,” he remembers. “I checked three times. Then I started yelling and my kids came running downstairs, but they didn’t believe me, so then they checked the numbers. The first thing my kids said to me was ‘Now we can get an Xbox!’” Besides the popular video game platform, the winner says he will use the cash to help finance an upcoming move to Florida.
