Big Lottery Win for Powder Springs Railroad Worker

A Georgia Lottery win just before Thanksgiving is set to brighten the holidays for a railroad signal operator from Powder Springs.

According to a news release Wednesday, Philip Solages, 43, matched all five numbers from the Nov. 19 Fantasy 5 drawing, winning the $682,144 jackpot.

Solages claimed his prize Wednesday at Georgia Lottery headquarters in Atlanta. He had purchased his Quik Pik ticket at Team Texaco II, located at 3265 Florence Road in Powder Springs.

The winning numbers from the Nov. 19 Fantasy 5 drawing were 1-5-14-29-36.

“I saw the amount going up, so I said I would play,” Solages said. “I picked up a ticket on my way home from work.”

He checked the results from the drawing on the Georgia Lottery’s website.

“I stared at it for 30 seconds, checking the date and comparing the numbers,” he said. “I called my wife into the room and told her, ‘I think I have the winning ticket. I won the big one!’”

Solages anticipates purchasing a new car for his wife, paying off their home mortgage and nesting the remainder. The couple has two children, ages 9 and 22.

“I’m excited. I can’t describe it,” Solages said.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $13.8 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.4 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.2 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.