CT Lottery Ticket Tucked In Sun Visor Turns Into 6-figure Winner

ROCKY HILL, CT — Talk about seeing the light ... It was certainly the case with a Conneticticut couple winning a big CT Lottery prize.

Frank Laquitara and his fiancée, Debbie Long-Combs, were driving to visit family members in Virginia when Debbie received an email — a Patch posting — that a winning Powerball ticket worth $100,000 was sold in Connecticut for the Aug. 24 drawing, CT Lottery officials said.

The Preston couple then decided to take a look at the Powerball tickets tucked in the sun visor of their car.

"Frank checked the tickets while I read the numbers off of the email—we matched four numbers, plus the Powerball," Long-Combs said. "We didn't believe it, even after I repeated the numbers twice and checked the ticket with the Lottery's mobile app. And we didn't tell anybody either, just in case we were wrong. We didn't want to jinx it."

The winning Powerball numbers for August 24, 2019, were 5 - 12 - 20 - 21 - 47 and Powerball was 1. The Power Play number was 2.

"Once we got back to Connecticut, I went to a lottery retailer and scanned the ticket in a ticket checker. When it said it was a $100,000 winner, that's when I said, 'It's official. We won!'" Laquitara said.

Because Laquitara added Power Play to his Powerball ticket, his original $50,000 prize was multiplied by 2, the Power Play number drawn, for a total prize of $100,000.

"We're very grateful—the timing is impeccable," said Long-Combs. "Frank really needs a new car and we couldn't use our boat all summer because we need a new motor."

Laquitara's winning Powerball Quick Pick ticket was purchased at the PCG Market at 136 Preston Road, Griswold.

The overall odds of winning a Powerball prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning a Powerball “Match 4 + Powerball” prize are 1 in 913,129. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.