July 10, 2012 -- A bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich from John’s Deli on Pearl Street in Seymour tasted even better to Noel Peel (also from Seymour) when it was served up with a side of $60 million in Powerball lottery prize money.  

Peel has become the state’s 8th Powerball jackpot winner.  Today, with wife Fredda beside him, Peel picked up a $60 million prize for being the game’s only jackpot winner for the June 23 drawing.  “It’s a beautiful thing,” Peel told the crowd of onlookers.  

Peel, a regular at John’s Deli, noticed the Lottery’s in-store display terminal while he waited in line for his daily breakfast sandwich and coffee.  At the counter, he asked to buy a few tickets – two for Mega Millions, and two for Powerball.   His “Quick Pick” ticket for the Saturday, June 23 Powerball drawing turned out to be the only ticket sold nationwide that matched the winning numbers exactly.  

Peel didn’t think about his purchase until several days later, when he noticed his ticket in the console of his truck.  Using the Lottery Ticket Checker at the deli, Peel learned he’d won the game’s jackpot prize.  “It wasn’t until we got to Lottery headquarters that we learned that the jackpot was actually worth $60 million,” said Peel.  “We just couldn’t believe it.”

Powerball’s winning numbers drawn on June 23, which were 1 – 3 – 41 – 44 – 53 and a Powerball of 30.  Nationwide, there were 421,685 winning tickets for the June 23, 2012 Powerball drawing; 7,953 of those winning tickets were sold right here in Connecticut.  

Powerball’s jackpot has been won twice by Seymour residents.  Christopher Ewen won a $59,500,000 Powerball jackpot on June 25, 2005.

Frank Farricker, Chairman of the Board for the CT Lottery, presented Peel and his wife Fredda with a prize check for the one-time cash lump sum value of $39,814,200 (before taxes).  Federal income tax was $9,953,550; state income tax was $2,667,551.  “We are just so thankful that this has happened,” said Peel, a self-employed building contractor.  “We have an amazing family.  We don’t need a million dollars to make it better, but it doesn’t hurt,” said Peel with a laugh.

Lottery retailer, Man Keung Wong, owner of John’s Deli at 45 Pearl Street in Seymour, was also on hand to congratulate Peel on his big win.  In fact, Wong is feeling pretty lucky himself.  For selling Peel his Powerball jackpot winning ticket, Wong received a $100,000 bonus check from the CT Lottery.