Norwalk Man's 5 Card Cash Lottery Ticket Gets Him $255,555

George Togridis of Norwalk found out Friday that he had  a perfect five-card match for the 5 Card Cash game’s top prize — which put $174,545 in cash in his pocket Monday (after taxes), when he claimed the prize.

The Connecticut Lottery issued this news release Wednesday about Togridis' win:

Last Friday morning, George Togridis of Norwalk stopped by his favorite hometown grocery store to pick up swim goggles for his son, a cup of coffee, and a 5 Card Cash ticket for the July 11th drawing. 

Togridis’ ticket had a Pair of Kings for a $3 instant win, but he held onto his ticket to see if he would win again in the daily Drawing.  Later that day, he scanned his 5 Card Cash ticket.

“When I saw $255,555 on the ticket checker, I thought it was an ad for the game’s top prize. It just didn’t make sense to me,” said Todridis, laughing.  “So, I had them run my ticket through the lottery terminal and I got the print out.  It was a jackpot ticket…MY jackpot ticket.  I didn’t believe it when I saw it.”

The “cards” on Togridis’ 5 Card Cash ticket were a perfect match to the winning hand drawn for July 11:  AC - 5C - KH - KS - 3H. 

In addition to Togridis’ $255,555 top prize win, 430 tickets on that date contained a match for prizes ranging from $20 to $555.  A total of 25,702 tickets contained “Instant Win” prizes ranging from a $2 (free ticket) to $555.

Togridis purchased his prize winning ticket at Hills Confectionery, a family-owned grocery store located at 57 Stevens St. in Norwalk.  Jimmy Panagiotidis, a co-owner of Hills, was equally thrilled for Togridis’ good fortune.

It’s the second substantially large prize winning ticket sold at Hills Confectionery this year—the first was a “$25,000 a year for life” second prize (claimed as a $390,000 cash lump sum) for the Jan. 23, 2014 “Lucky for Life” drawing.

“We’ve been here forever,” Panagiotidis said.  “We treat everyone that comes to the store like our friends and family.”

Monday, Togridis arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill where he accepted a prize check for $174,545 (value after taxes). 

“I’m going to put the money away for a college fund for my three kids and then pretend this win never happened,” Togridis said.

For selling Togridis his prize winning ticket, Hills Confectionery will also receive a $2,500 check from the CT Lottery.

To learn more about any CT Lottery game, visit the CT Lottery’s YouTube channel (YouTube.com/CTLottery), Facebook (facebook.com/CTLottery) or Twitter (twitter.com/ctlottery) sites, or stop by any CT Lottery retailer location.

The overall odds of winning any 5 Card Cash prize are 1 in 4.1.  The Instant Win overall odds are 1 in 4.2.  Daily Drawing overall odds are 1 in 235.3.  The top Drawing prize is subject to split prize liability and may be lower than shown.

The CT Lottery reminds the public that purchasers must be 18 or older, and to please play responsibly.  For information about the CT Lottery, call (860) 713-2700 or visit CTLOTTERY.ORG.