September 17, 2008 -- As a reservationist for a major airline carrier, Michelle Sauve is trained to be unflappable, which is just what she was as she arrived at the CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill today to claim her $1.6 million Classic Lotto jackpot prize.

The cool, calm, and collected East Hartford resident presented the winning ticket to Lottery officials on Wednesday morning. The winning ticket had been sitting on Michelle's kitchen table since she purchased it last April 15th tax day, of all days. Last Sunday evening, she decided to do some cleaning, and checked her ticket numbers against the winning numbers on the CT Lottery's web page feature, "Did My Numbers Win?"

"When I saw that one of my tickets matched a couple of numbers, I thought 'cool.'  Then, I saw the third number matched, and then the fourth number. When I realized all six numbers matched, I was excited,"  said Sauve. When asked where she kept that winning ticket once she'd won the jackpot, she calmly replied, "Back on the kitchen table -- it was as safe a place as any."

As a regular Lottery player, Michelle buys Classic Lotto Quick Picks every Tuesday and Friday, and often plays Powerball when the jackpot rises.

Sauve's winning jackpot ticket was purchased at Shaw's Supermarket, on Broad Street in Manchester. Sauve opted to take the one-time cash lump sum value of $691,187, the prize value after taxes were deducted. The winning numbers for the April 15, 2008 drawing were 21-22-29-34-36-39. There were 5,391 winning tickets sold statewide for the drawing.

This year, Classic Lotto celebrates its 25th anniversary as one of Connecticut's favorite lottery games. Since its introduction, more than 1,100 people have won the jackpot.