Community Corner

Southington Man Wins $1 Million Powerball Prize

Town resident Richard Soucia had to read his ticket out loud a second time before realizing he actually hit it big.

A few days after the Dec. 19 Powerball drawing, Southington resident Richard Soucia logged onto CT Lottery's website to find out the winning numbers.

With a ticket in hand bearing the numbers 5 – 8 – 20 – 23 and 30, Soucia read out loud the same numbers on the computer screen. The winning prize was $1 million.

“When I saw I had five numbers, I thought the prize had to be at least $10,000,” Soucia told Lottery officials. “I woke up my wife, Josie, and asked her to read the numbers from the ticket with me while I checked the numbers again on the computer. We couldn’t believe it. It just didn’t seem real.”

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Soucia is the second of two ticket holders in Connecticut who matched the first five numbers, but missed the Powerball number, 3. 

Soucia recently came to the CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to accept a prize check of $683,000, the value of the winnings after taxes. He said he will put the money toward a future retirement.

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Soucia bought the winning $1 million ticket at Berlin Convenience & Deli, located at 831 Mill St. in East Berlin. The store will receive a $2,000 bonus from CT Lottery.

There still is another $1 million Powerball winner who purchased a ticket on Dec. 8. The individual has yet to come forward to claim their prize, lottery officials said.

The winning numbers on that date were 7 - 23 - 26 - 40 – 53 and Powerball 21.

In total, 7,939 winning Powerball tickets were sold statewide for that date, with prizes ranging from $4 to $1,000,000.

The overall odds of winning a Powerball prize are 1 in 31.8 based on a $2.00 play.  Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 175,223,510 million.   

The CT Lottery reminds the public that purchasers must be 18 or older, and to please play responsibly. For more information about CT’s lottery games, visit ctlottery.org or call (860) 713-2700.


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