“Congratulations, Jackpot Winner!”Running some last minute errands before leaving on a business trip, pharmaceutical sales rep, Art Hlywa, Jr. of Southbury stopped at a convenience store to pick up the morning newspaper and check a couple of CT Lottery Classic Lotto “Quick Picks” he had purchased for the February 25, 2011 drawing. Scanning his tickets in the lottery’s “Ticket Checker” the message “Congratulations, Winner Jackpot!” appeared on the screen, and Hlywa was stumped for a moment, not knowing the jackpot amount. “I grabbed the winning numbers sheet by the lottery machine to see how much it was and couldn’t believe it,” said Hlywa. The jackpot winning
Classic Lotto ticket that Hlywa held in his hand was worth a mind-boggling $3,600,000.
The six numbers on Hlywa’s ticket were a perfect match with the Classic Lotto numbers drawn on February 25, which were 2 - 18 - 19 - 27- 41- 43.
Hlywa immediately drove home to share the incredible news with his wife, Joanna, by walking in the front door and leading her directly to their computer, and to the CT Lottery website (ctlottery.org). Together they viewed the winning Classic Lotto numbers for the February 25 drawing along with its $3.6 million jackpot, Joanna remarking, “Is it real? Can it possibly be real?” Art assured his wife of 15 years, it was indeed real.
Today, Art and Joanna Hlywa—Connecticut's first Classic Lotto millionaires of the year, claimed the $3.6 million jackpot they won at Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill. The Hlywa’s selected the jackpot’s one-time cash lump-sum value of $2,397,603 (before taxes). The net prize was $1,642,359. “It feels amazing to know that the kids college will be paid for, we can pay off all our bills, and we’ll be debt free. We definitely want to do something nice for both our parents, and our family…we are blessed with a great family.”
While Hlywa’s winning jackpot ticket was the only one sold for the February 25, 2011 drawing, there were 5,989 additional winning tickets sold in that draw with prizes from $2 up to $1,190 each.
The overall chances of winning a prize in Classic Lotto are 1 in 39.3. The chance of winning the jackpot is 1 in approximately 7.1 million. Kiran Mart located on Southford Road in Southbury sold the winning jackpot ticket, and will receive a $10,000 bonus for doing so.
