Clean Out Your Costanza Wallet, Find $1,000,000 Winning Lottery Ticket
WLWT - A Connecticut man has claimed a $1 million Powerball jackpot from a ticket sold in Wilton.
Charles Dudley claimed the prize at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill on Wednesday.
Until then, the clock was ticking for the unclaimed $1,000,000 Powerball prize winning ticket for the May 2 drawing. Only 23 days remained before the ticket was due to expire, and the winner had yet to step forward.
“I had stopped for ice cream at the [Georgetown] Shell station that day,” Dudley told Lottery officials. “While I was there, I got a Powerball Quick Pick, put it in my wallet, and then forgot about it.”
Months later, Dudley was cleaning out his wallet and came across the Powerball ticket, stuck between a number of old receipts.
“I checked the winning numbers on the Lottery’s website and couldn’t believe it. I checked it over and over. The numbers were a match. It didn’t feel real, though, until I checked the location of where the ticket was sold. It was where I bought my ticket.”
The winning Powerball numbers drawn on May 2 were 5 – 14 – 31 – 40 – 50 and Powerball 6. Dudley’s ticket matched the first five numbers drawn.
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I have bought my fair share of lottery tickets in my day, and I have never once bought PowerBall or Mega Millions tickets without the expectation of winning. I know it’s ridiculous, but every time I buy lottery tickets I begin day dreaming about how my life is about to change, about how much money I’m going to have, all the luxuries I’m going to buy, the whole nine yards. I know I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning while riding a unicorn than I have of winning the lotto, but I don’t care. For those couple hours between buying the tickets and checking my losing numbers, I’m on cloud 9. I mean someone has to win it, so why not me? And that’s why I keep going back, as dumb as it is.
Most of the fun of buying a lottery ticket is day dreaming about your new life. A condo in Vegas, a chalet in the Swiss Alps, a farm in upstate New York for puppies to run around on. So I can’t believe ol’ Charles Dudley waltzed into a gas station, bought a lottery ticket, shoved it into his big fat wallet, forgot about it, and then won. I just can’t believe it. I’ve lost sleep at night in anticipation of the next day’s drawing, and Chucky Dudley didn’t check his ticket for months. 4+ months of not being a millionaire because he never checked the filing cabinet under his ass for his lottery ticket. Upsets me a bit more than it should.
But hey, good for him, I guess. Cashed in his million dollar ticket right before it was set to expire. Maybe I’ll switch up my methods to the Charles Dudley. Every time I buy ice cream (every day) I’ll buy a lottery ticket and never check them. I’ll just go about my day, and then when I can’t shut my wallet, I’ll take them to the 7-11 and scan them. And buy more ice cream. I definitely can’t lose now.