SHARE

Man Wins $255,555 Top Prize In Connecticut Lottery Card Game

NORWALK, Conn. -- While making a run to a local store for a pair of swim goggles for his son and a cup of coffee for himself, a Norwalk man also picked up a college nest egg. 

On July 11, George Togridis stopped by Hills Confectionery, a family-owned grocery store at 57 Stevens St. in Norwalk, and also bought a 5 Card Cash lottery ticket for that day's drawing. 

Togridis’ ticket had a pair of kings for a $3 instant win, and he held onto his ticket to see if he would win again in the daily drawing. Later that day, he scanned his 5 Card Cash ticket.

“When I saw $255,555 on the ticket checker, I thought it was an ad for the game’s top prize. It just didn’t make sense to me,” Todridis said in a statement from the CT Lottery. “So, I had them run my ticket through the lottery terminal, and I got the print out. It was a jackpot ticket …MY jackpot ticket. I didn’t believe it when I saw it.”

The “cards” on Togridis’ 5 Card Cash ticket were a perfect match to the winning hand drawn for July 11:  AC - 5C - KH - KS - 3H. 

Jimmy Panagiotidis, a co-owner of Hills, was equally thrilled for Togridis’ good fortune. It’s the second substantially large prize-winning ticket sold at Hills Confectionery this year — the first was a “$25,000 a year for life” second prize (claimed as a $390,000 cash lump sum) for the Jan. 23 drawing in “Lucky for Life.”  

“We’ve been here forever,” Panagiotidis said. “We treat everyone that comes to the store like our friends and family.”

At CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill, Togridis accepted a prize check for $174,545 -- the value after taxes. 

“I’m going to put the money away for a college fund for my three kids and then pretend this win never happened,” Togridis said.

For selling Togridis his prize-winning ticket, Hills Confectionery will also receive a $2,500 check from the CT Lottery.

to follow Daily Voice Westport and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE