January 16, 2009 -- Talk about Random Luck! On Friday, New Haven resident Edward Random arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to claim his $1,000,000 top prize in the $70 Million Blockbuster scratch ticket.

Random, a truck driver for more than a decade, was traveling along his truck route to New York on Friday, when he stopped to buy a $70 Million Blockbuster scratch ticket at the Rainbow Shop, Inc. on Rte 95 Westbound in Milford.  He originally had intentions of purchasing a Mega Money ticket but at the last minute opted for the $70 Million Blockbuster scratch ticket instead.

It turned out to be a winning choice.

Scratching the ticket at the counter, he saw a $1,000,000 prize being revealed.  He thought, "Something’s not right here. Things like this don’t happen to me."  He asked the clerk to check the ticket, she said, "Oh, my gosh, you won a million dollars." He took the ticket and went to his wife's workplace, to show it to her.  She cried, her co-workers cried, and then, Mr. and Mrs. Random gathered their family (and even the family dog, Dooney) and came to Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to collect his prize.

$70 Million Blockbuster's top prize is payable as a 20-year annuity, but Mr. Random chose to take the cash lump sum payment of $621,200.  After taxes, Mr. Random’s net prize was $434,842.  He plans to purchase a home with his prize money.  "It’ll be good to know that my job doesn’t have to pay for my house," he said. As for the rest of the prize money, he'll decide that once the shock of winning wears off.