Shop owner sells himself winning lottery ticket

Nov 25, 2010, 8:57 am (14 comments)

Pennsylvania Lottery

BELLE VERNON, Pa. — A shop owner in western Pennsylvania has sold himself a winning $1.8 million lottery ticket — and as the seller of the ticket, he'll get an extra $10,000.

Ron Rea owns Tobacco World stores in Uniontown and Belle Vernon. He bought the winning ticket for the Nov. 18 Match 6 Lotto drawing at the Belle Vernon store.

The Match 6 lotto game returned to the Pennsylvania Lottery games on June 3rd and since then it has produced two jackpot winners. This is also the second largest Pennsylvania Lottery win so far this year.

Rea says he doesn't play the lottery's Daily Number, but he spends about $20 a day on tickets for games with higher odds, telling the Herald-Standard of Uniontown, "If you hit, your life's changed."

Rea's ticket was worth $1,782,432. A lottery spokeswoman confirmed Rea's claim to the winning ticket.

The 68-year-old Rea says the winnings will help him and his wife of 38 years, Rita, build their retirement funds.

AP, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

sully16's avatarsully16

wtg, congrats to the winner.

jackpotismine's avatarjackpotismine

Congrats! I thought that you couldn't own a lottery machine and play too? Maybe that's only if you work for the lottery office? Correct me if I'm wrong.

NITEHAWK61's avatarNITEHAWK61

I think it's only if you work for the lottery office.

I was speaking to a casino worker and the casino is run by the lottery commission and he said he can not play at casino nor the lottery.

it is against the rules.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Nice win for a 68 year old, may God bless him and his wife with many more years to enjoy it.

luckyshoes's avatarluckyshoes

This store is 15 minutes from my house !!!  Im so happy for him.

PERDUE

Congrats to Mr Rea and his wife Rita, of 38 years. May you have many more happy and healthy years.

time*treat's avatartime*treat

When I first read this, I thought the article was saying the wife was 38. Jester

dopey7719's avatardopey7719

They need to rebuild their retirement savings after spending it buying 20.00 dollars worth of lottery tickets everyday.

tiggs95's avatartiggs95

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Nov 25, 2010

Nice win for a 68 year old, may God bless him and his wife with many more years to enjoy it.

68!!!!...Good for him he's still a youngster..Rock on kid!!..

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by dopey7719 on Nov 25, 2010

They need to rebuild their retirement savings after spending it buying 20.00 dollars worth of lottery tickets everyday.

Rea says he doesn't play the lottery's Daily Number, but he spends about $20 a day on tickets for games with higher odds, telling the Herald-Standard of Uniontown, "If you hit, your life's changed."

His statement was confusing, either he spends $20 every day playing or he spends a lot more than $20 when ever he plays which is not every day or he spends $140 a week or more than $7000 a year playing.

louise black

Whatever he did it pay off congratulation!!Hurray!

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Congratulations Reas!  Wonderful win and since Pennsylvania doesn't deduct any "state" tax portion it means that he'll only have to pay the approximate 35% federal taxes due from the gross $1,782,432.

I want to receive winning funds this year, as federal taxes are increasing a lot next year!

Cheers

dphillips's avatardphillips

Now, how lucky can he be? His ship came into port and he was smart enough to get on board with no regrets. When he played, I'm sure he hadn't anticipated he'd be the million dollar winner -- with so many customers coming in and out of his establishment. Gee, what are the odds? Who knows, perhaps the $10,000 is his vacation money, or if he gambles, any Vegas casino staff would love to 'comp' him.

sully16's avatarsully16

In Michigan, state gaming officials and inspectors are not allowed to play, shop owners can have at it.

End of comments
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