The winner of a $2.9 million Tri-State Megabucks jackpot said when she found out the numbers on her ticket matched those for the July 7 drawing she couldnt believe she had really won.
I didnt believe it. I put the ticket back on the counter and thought this cant be real, said Janet Suitter, 42, who later called the Park n Go store here to confirm that the numbers were indeed the winning combination.
Yesterday, driving her new Nissan 350Z sports car, one of two vehicles she bought to celebrate winning the jackpot, Suitter and her husband, Dan Chambers, came to the store for a ceremony in which she was presented with an oversized replica of a $1.72 million check by Rick Wisler, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery.
The check represented the cash value of the jackpot.
We just love making New Hampshire residents millionaires, said Wisler, who noted that Suitter is the 148th person from New Hampshire to win the Tri-State Megabucks jackpot since the game began in 1985.
Suitter, who had been on medical leave from her job with the U.S. Postal Service in Tilton, said she has been playing the same numbers every week for the last 20 years and knows that the 3-29 and 8-10 represented family birthdays but isnt sure where the other numbers came from. The winning numbers were 3-6-8-10-14-29 with a bonus number of 19.
I guess that proves if you stick with something long enough, it will be a winner, said Suitter, who told longtime Park n Go clerk Vera Prescott, who sold her the winning ticket, that she almost didnt buy a ticket that morning because money had been so tight recently.
Prescott said she knows Suitter very well and was extremely pleased she had won. Shes a regular player here. She called the next morning and asked me to read the winning numbers. I asked her if she was the winner, and she said that she was but didnt want to let anyone know until she took the ticket to Concord, Prescott said.
Prescott said she couldnt resist calling store owner Linda Perry to tell her who the winner was, but they kept the winners name secret until yesterday.
Im very glad that it was someone who was local who won and someone who could really use the money, said Perry, whose store received $29,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Suitter said she and her husband have four children, ranging in age from 27 to 16, as well as four grandchildren.
In addition to the sports car, Suitter, who is originally from Houlton, Maine, said she also bought a Nissan Murano sports utility vehicle.
She said she and her husband, who works in bridge construction, havent yet decided on whether theyll be taking any long vacation trips.
Does she also play Hot Lotto?
i got my tickets for saturday's drawing.
Thats sticking to your guns. and keep playing the same numbers they bound to hit someday. four times ive hit pega 4 four times in puerto rico
box thats it, one day i'll hit it straigth 2241-5433-9206.all boxed yes it took
about one year.
Is this "Megabucks" related to the slot machines? ::Slight dumb question::
i don't think so.
That would be interesting...a computerized lottery game with tickets connected to slots...