Dover, DE -- The Delaware Lottery has awarded the grand prize for its DELAWARE RAFFLE game, which concluded this past New Year’s Eve. A Middletown man happily claimed the $250,000 check (minus Federal withholding taxes).

This year’s quarter-million-dollar prize went to a player in his late 60’s who originally hails from New York. The lucky winner, who wished to remain anonymous, rarely plays the Delaware Lottery and said he purchased just one ticket for this year’s RAFFLE game. “It was just a spur of the moment thing,” he said. “I’m not usually a big Lottery player, but I inquired at the store and they had the tickets so I thought, ‘Let me take a chance.’”

Still working in sales, he discovered his good fortune by checking through the winning numbers in the newspaper on New Year’s Day. “Initially, I was in total disbelief that I’d won,” he remembered. “It still hasn’t completely sunk in.”

The winner said he remains undecided about plans for the winnings, but wants to keep the news as quiet as possible. “I’m happy about the Delaware Lottery’s anonymity option. I think it protects winners like me that don’t want to be getting a lot of unwanted calls,” said the winner. “I’m really looking forward to playing this RAFFLE game again next year.”

The top prize ticket was sold at the Super G Food and Drug in Middletown, Del.

The Lottery has also handed out the five guaranteed $25,000 first prizes to winners including; two friends from Wilmington and Rising Sun, eight New Castle county coworkers that will divvy up the sum, and a 42-year-old Elkton, Md., man who was also tempted by the outstanding odds and cashed in with his own win.