Rahway Gas Station Sells $50K Winning Ticket

Rahway, NJ - April Deal, manager of the store that sold a third-prize winning $50,000 Powerball ticket, couldn’t tell you the name of the winner.

But she can tell you how he takes his coffee and what he likes to eat.

“He’s a regular customer. He comes in every day, and sometimes a couple times a day,” said Deal, who manages the Dunkin’ Donuts, which shares space with the Shell gas station that sold the winning Powerball ticket. That’s the gas station, pictured above.

NJ Lottery announced around noon on Thursday that the Shell at 1655 St. Georges Avenue was one of 46 in the state that sold third-prize Powerball tickets. A 7-11 in South Jersey sold a $1 million ticket, and a WaWa in Burlington County sold a $2 million ticket.

But when the man first came into the store Thursday and announced he’d won, store employees rolled their eyes.

“He said, ‘I won $50,000!’ We didn’t believe him; we were like, ‘Yeah, sure,’” said Deal. “He’s always joking around like that. Then he said he had to go to the gas station and fill out the paperwork, and we started getting really serious.”

She said she couldn’t think of someone more deserving to win the cash.

“He’s an immigrant to this country. I think he’s from Poland or Germany. And he doesn’t just expect things to be handed to him. He works hard; he’s a contractor,” she said. “He said he’s going to pay off his car, pay off his mom’s house and then go on vacation. He’s hilarious; he said he doesn’t even need the money.”

“When you get to know your customers, especially the ones who come in every day, it feels good,” she added. “You want to see good things happen to them.”