February 04, 2013 -- While making a stop at a local package store, Bobby Stanley of Ansonia asked to buy a couple of new $2 “PLATINUM” instant game tickets.  By mistake, Stanley was handed two $3 “PEARLS” tickets, which he ultimately decided to keep.  

Stanley tucked the tickets in his back pocket and didn’t look at them again until he later arrived at work.  “When I played the ticket, I didn’t notice at first that I had a number match,” Stanley told Lottery officials.  "I kept looking at the ticket until finally it registered—I had a match—and the prize was $30,000.”

Smiling from ear to ear, Stanley happily accepted his prize check at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill for $20,490.  “I’m still shocked.  I still can’t believe it,” Stanley said.

Stanley plans to give the entire $30,000 top prize to the apple of his eye—his beautiful daughter.  “My daughter is my life.  All of this will go to her college education fund.”

For selling Stanley his $30,000 top prize winning ticket, TJ’s Discount Wine and Liquor, located at 100 Hawley Lane in Trumbull will receive a $300 bonus from the CT Lottery.