Dover, DE -- A store clerk from Sussex County has earned the right to say he has some of Delaware’s fastest fingers. Shayne Edwards, of Daily Market in Lewes, took home the Delaware Lottery’s 2008 XFingers Challenge title, pocketing $800 along the way - $700 in the finals and $100 in the preliminary rounds.

The XFingers Challenge is an exclusive competition contested annually to determine who from among all licensed Delaware Lottery terminal operators can most adeptly operate their lottery machines. Participants are timed on how fast they can enter a variety of lottery ticket requests and transactions into a terminal, with the fastest players moving on to the finals. Edwards’ winning time of 1 minute 20 seconds was a full 12 seconds faster than the next closest competitor.

“We are thrilled to host the XFingers Challenge every year as a fun yet competitive way to recognize our retail partners and terminal operators for the outstanding job they do 365 days a year,” said Delaware Lottery Director Wayne Lemons. “The Delaware Lottery would not be able to achieve its mission of contributing to the State's General Fund without the hard work – and fast fingers – of these citizens.”

Dozens of clerks competed in each of last week’s county-wide preliminary rounds, held in Dover, Millsboro and Stanton on April 15, 16 and 17. The top five competitors in each county won cash prizes and advanced to Tuesday’s championship round, staged at the Sheraton Dover Hotel.

Delaware Lottery customers were also able to join in this year’s fun by nominating their favorite clerk(s) to participate in the competition. All participants were automatically eligible for a variety of great prizes.

Other XFingers Challenge prize-winners included:

2nd place- Mukesh Joshi of Stop N Shop, Dover ($400)
3rd place- Dixit Patel of Eastside Package, Dover ($200)
4th place- Kyle Schuldt of Shoprite Brandywine ($100)
5th place- Danny Lynch of Bodies #6, Selbyville ($75)