November 30, 2010 -- Ben Troidle, a retired engineer from Fairfield, never misses the chance to play a
Classic Lotto drawing, held every Tuesday and Friday, when he purchases his favorite Lotto numbers in advance with “Advance Action.” It’s also the CT Lottery’s Advance Action game feature that interests Troidle. By buying 26 drawings in advance, Troidle only has to pay for 25; much like getting the 26
th ticket for free. Coincidently, it was the 26
th draw on his ticket that held the winning $1.1 million jackpot combination for Friday, November 19, 2010.
The six numbers on Troidle’s Classic Lotto ticket were based on the birthdates of his three children, which matched perfectly with those drawn that night, 2-11-12-20-22-27.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted,” Troidle said. “I knew my Advance Action ticket was running out, so I looked at the lottery’s website on my cell phone.” Seeing his Classic Lotto numbers on the site, Troidle did a double take, and told his wife of 50 years, Mary Ann, “I think we won!” He later confirmed on his computer, again by visiting the lottery’s website, that he was, indeed, Connecticut’s newest Lottery millionaire.
The Troidle’s made the trip to CT Lottery Headquarters in Rocky Hill last Tuesday morning to have the ticket validated and then took a few more days to decide how to collect his $1.1 million jackpot prize—as a 21-year annuity or a one-time cash lump-sum. Today, Troidle and his wife returned to Lottery headquarters and selected the jackpot’s lump-sum of $732,606 (before taxes). The net prize was $501,837.
Troidle plans to invest his prize money wisely, and to share it with his children. “It will be a good Christmas,” he said.
Troidle is the 7th winner to claim a Classic Lotto jackpot this year. His winning jackpot ticket was the only one sold for the November 19, 2010 drawing. There were 7,406 additional winning tickets sold in that draw with prizes from $2 up to $1,096 each.
Fairfield Woods OTR Mobil located at 2120 Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield sold the winning jackpot ticket, and will receive a $10,000 bonus for doing so.