A recently released Colorado Lotto winner walked into a convenience store, purchased a $20 scratch ticket, and walked out a $1,000,000 winner.
The 54-year-old woman, named simply Crystal H. to protect her identity, is using some of her winnings to fulfill a long-held dream.
She has put an offer on a large house in Colorado Springs, something she has always wanted to do, as her family can attest to.
Success was relax until this told her spouse and children
Online lottery tickets, including scratch-off tickets, can’t be purchased through the Colorado Lottery. However, tickets for Powerball and Mega Millions are available online to Colorado players through Jackpocket.com.
Crystal is a software engineer at Lockheed Martin in Denver. She regularly plays Colorado Lottery scratch-off games. She buys tickets a few times a month but has never won more than $200… until now.
She purchased a $20 Monopoly 200x scratch ticket recently at her favorite Colorado Lottery retailer, Daytona Mart in Aurora.
As she was scratching off the ticket, she began to realize that it might be a winner. When she confirmed that she had won, she was “calm but shocked,” she told Colorado Lottery officials. In fact, she said she didn’t become anxious until she informed her family about her win.
Crystal’ s wish was to obtain a home inside the Springs
For many years, Crystal has dreamed about buying a large house in the city of Colorado Springs to accommodate her extended family. This dream was well-known by her family. Her niece even added a new and big house to her vision board before Crystal won. Her niece prophesied that they would all be living together in the future.
“We are getting the band back together!” Crystal exclaimed about making an offer on a house in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs holds a special place in Crystal’s life. She was pregnant during Operation Desert Storm, and after being discharged from the military, she moved to Colorado Springs to be closer to her sister and to establish roots in the area.
Eventually, Crystal moved to Denver where her daughter was attending college, but her dream of living in The Springs never faded.
Crystal’s son lives with her, and her daughter lives in Littleton. She also serves as a mother figure to her nephew and niece, who are both in Ohio. When Crystal sent her niece a photo of her winning ticket, her niece didn’t immediately believe her.
“Are you pranking me? Is this real!?” she asked.
Crystal replied, “No, I have this in my hand. I think this is real!”
In addition to putting an offer on a house, Crystal is also considering a trip to Hawaii.
Daytona Mart personnel were amazed at the get
Crystal returned to Daytona Mart to share the news with the employees. Daytona Mart is the Colorado Lottery’s top independent scratch-off ticket game retailer. The employees at Daytona Mart were shocked: “You won a million dollars!?” In its statement, the Colorado Lottery left a closing message for Crystal. “Congratulations, Crystal, and thank you for playing!”
T.L. McBride is a Denver-based writer and reporter with an extensive background in the NBA and Denver Nuggets. T.J. is a Southern native who provides news and analysis on the legal gambling industry across several Catena Media’s regional US sites.
