'It's Life Changing': Ocean County Player Wins $1.88M Jackpot

TOMS RIVER, NJ — It's normal to get distracted by email alerts while on work calls. What isn't normal is finding out from one that you'd won nearly $2 million from a lottery game. But that's what happened for one Ocean County player, who learned from a news alert that they had hit the Jersey Cash 5 jackpot - in the middle of a call.

"So, I was working, checking my emails when I was on a call. I saw a notification from a Patch that said there was a Cash 5 winner," the winner told New Jersey Lottery on Dec. 10. "It also showed a picture of the liquor store. It was the store I bought my ticket at! I said to myself 'No way!' I then looked at the article, to see when the winner was. I was 'Ohhhhkaaaay…No way!'"

On Friday, Dec. 6, a Cash 5 player matched all five numbers to win the $1,883,824 prize. The winning numbers were: 07, 21, 28, 31 and 38, and the XTRA number was 02. The Bullseye number was 31. The ticket was played at Silverton Buy Rite, 1922 Hooper Ave., Toms River. The retailer will receive a bonus of $2,000 for selling the winning ticket.

The player couldn't wait for the call to end. They ran out to their car, still on the call, and pulled out a couple of weeks' worth of tickets from the visor.

"I look at the numbers after my call. I looked at my first $10 worth of tickets. Not a winner. I put that one away. I see the other ticket and…Oh, my god. Those were the numbers," they said.

Seeing wasn't believing, so they pulled up the numbers on their laptop to double check.

"I pretty much started crying," the winner said. Then, they drove to the Buy Rite, which had sign that said "Big winner sold here."

"I went in and verified the ticket. It's me! I am the winner," they said.

It was a holiday blessing for the winner, who has been having a difficult year.

"This year was really rough," said the winner, who said that even though the ticket was a quick pick, four of the numbers carried a special, personal meaning. "Now this. It's life changing. I am going to buy myself a house. I am using it as an investment for my retirement. I am still in shock."