July 23, 2012 -- What better way to start your birthday than to be awoken by your spouse with the good news of having won $20,000 from the CT Lottery?  It felt pretty good, according to Leo Bienvenue of North Franklin who, with his wife Ellen, owns and manages a family farm of beef cows.

The night before the July 4th Super Draw drawing, Ellen went to the Cumberland Farms in Baltic to purchase two Super Draw tickets.  The morning of July 6, Leo’s birthday, Ellen visited the lottery’s website and visually scanned the winning Super Draw numbers, finding a perfect match with the number on her second ticket.  “I thought, ‘no way,’ Ellen told Lottery officials.  “After I checked the number a couple more times and was sure, I woke Leo and told him, ‘I think we just won $20,000 on the CT Lottery!’”  Ellen chose to give her husband the winning ticket.  “I wanted him to have all the glory,” she said with a laugh.

Last Friday, the Bienvenues arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill where Leo claimed a prize check for $13,663 (value after taxes); they plan to use the prize towards buying a new car.

There were ten $20,000 second-prize ticket numbers drawn on July 4: 276395, 104606, 326177, 262835, 238299, 121060, 356278, 319164, 350065, and 173100.

Including the Bienvenues, nine of the ten $20,000 prizes have been claimed by William Tolento, III, Branford; Pamela Merchant, Meriden; Barry Flanagan, Tolland; Heather Cianciullo, Danbury; Edward Haury, North Haven; Ronald Scarpelli, Stamford; Ruben Mendoza, New Britain, and Chester Winnicki, Berlin.  One $20,000 second-prize remains to be claimed.