Ohio Lottery: Lucky Man Wins Second Vehicle Prize from Scratch-Off Lottery Game
Perhaps John Demaria's next lottery prize will be a garage.
The 71-year-old Elyria, Ohio resident won a 2004 Cadillac Escalade with an instant lottery ticket in 2003. Tuesday, he turned in a winning ticket for a 2005 Harley Davidson 1200 Sportster motorcycle.
Those prizes come on top of $3,700 he has won playing Pick 4 and the kicker on Super Lotto tickets.
With more than 40 instant games to choose from, it's common for people to win more than once, lottery spokeswoman Karen Russo said. But Demaria is the first to hit on two vehicle giveaways in scratch-off games, she said.
Demaria took the $50,000 cash equivalent rather than the Cadillac. And he plans to sell the $15,000 Harley because he thinks motorcycles are unsafe.
Six motorcycles will be given away in the Harley Davidson game. The odds of winning one are one in 1 million, lottery officials said. In 2003, Demaria was one of 14 people who beat 200,000-to-1 odds to enter a drawing for the Cadillac.
The odds of winning both vehicles? No one has figured it out.
"I'd avoid standing close to Mr. Demaria on a golf course, but I wouldn't mind having his luck playing our games," Russo said.
Demaria buys his tickets, including Mega Millions, at A&C Food Mart in North Ridgeville. How much he spends is no one's business, he said.
The jackpot in the multistate Mega Millions drawing has grown to $205 million. None of the tickets sold for Tuesday's $168 million drawing matched all five lotto numbers and the Mega Ball. The next drawing will be Friday.
Demaria clearly dislikes publicity about winning. If he won Mega Millions, he said, he would have to move to Alaska.