December 28, 2012 -- A few days after the December 19 Powerball® drawing was held, Richard Soucia of Southington logged onto the CT Lottery website to locate the winning numbers.  Soucia read the winning numbers out loud as they were shown on the website—moments later, he repeated virtually the same numbers as they appeared on his Powerball “Quick Pick” ticket.  Soucia had every number, but the Powerball number for an incredible $1,000,000 prize win.

“When I saw I had five numbers, I thought the prize had to be at least $10,000,” Soucia told Lottery officials.  “I woke up my wife, Josie, and asked her to read the numbers from the ticket with me while I checked the numbers again on the computer.  We couldn’t believe it.  It just didn’t seem real,” Soucia said.

The winning Powerball numbers drawn on December 19 were 5 - 8 - 20 - 23 - 30.  Soucia is the second of two ticket holders in CT who matched the first five numbers, but missed the Powerball number, 3.  In total, 7,939 winning Powerball tickets were sold statewide for that date, with prizes ranging from $4 to $1,000,000.

The Soucias arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill recently to accept a prize check for $683,000 (value after taxes).  The prize money will be put toward their future retirement.

For selling Soucia his $1,000,000 Powerball winning ticket, Berlin Convenience & Deli, located at 831 Mill Street in East Berlin, will receive a $2,000 bonus from the CT Lottery.