April 25, 2011 -- Most paper that Ray Petersen, Jr. of West Hartford comes into contact with is vintage in nature.  As a self-employed antique paper and ephemera collector, paper that most people feel has little value, Peterson often finds of great interest.  Recently, Petersen purchased a particular piece of paper for $1.  It wasn’t an antique, but certainly turned out to be valuable—it was a Powerball “Quick Pick” ticket with a four number match for the April 16, 2011 drawing, and it was worth $10,000 in prize money.

Petersen matched the Powerball number of 7, and successfully matched four of the first five numbers drawn in the April 16th Powerball game, which were 21 - 33 - 44 - 45 – 55.  Nationwide, 737,444 winning tickets were purchased for the April 16 Powerball drawing; 13,401 of those tickets were sold here in Connecticut. 

“When I checked my Powerball ticket in the Ticket Checker and saw $10,000, I thought, ‘Huh, that’s interesting,’” Petersen told lottery officials with a laugh.  “Then I asked the clerk to check it.  When she confirmed I really won $10,000, I skipped the errands I had planned to do, and went right home to tell my wife.”

Yesterday afternoon, Petersen arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to claim a check for $6,850 (prize value after taxes).  When asked how he felt about his $10,000, he gave lottery officials a “thumbs up” signal.  “It’s all good.  There is no downside to this,” said Petersen.

Petersen feels especially lucky that his $10,000 prize will be used for something fun.  “We were planning on putting in a pool this summer, but now we can put it in with a new deck.”

Sam’s Food Store, located on New Britain Avenue in West Hartford will receive a $100 bonus check from the CT Lottery for selling the winning ticket.