A recent Colorado Lottery winner walked into a convenience store, bought a $20 scratch ticket and walked out a $1 million winner.
The 54-year-old woman, named simply Cystal G. to protect her identity, will use some of her winnings to realize a long-held dream.
Crystal has put down an offer on a large home in Colorado Springs, something she has always wanted to do, as her family will attest to.
Winner was calm until she told her family
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 once or twice 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.
When she was scratching off the ticket, she began to realize this might be a winner. As she realized she had won, she was “calm but shocked,” she told Colorado Lottery officials. In fact, she said she did not become anxious until she told her family she had won.
Crystal’s dream was to buy a home in The Springs
For years, Crystal has dreamed about buying a large house in the city of Colorado Springs to house her large 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 prophesized that they would all be living together soon.
“We are getting the band back together!” Crystal said about putting an offer down 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 released from the military, she moved to Colorado Springs to be closer to her sister and envisioned planting roots in the area.
Eventually, Crystal moved to Denver, where her daughter was going to college, but her dream of living in The Springs never went away.
Crystal’s son lives with her, and her daughter lives in Littleton. She also acts as a mother to her nephew and niece, who are both in Ohio. When Crystal sent her niece a picture of her winning ticket, her niece did not immediately believe her.
“Are you pranking me? Is this real!?” she asked.
Crystal said, “No, I have this in my hand. I think this is real!”
In addition to putting an offer down on a house, Crystal is eyeing a trip to Hawaii.
Daytona Mart employees were shocked at the win
Crystal returned to Daytona Mart to share the news with employees. Daytona Mart is the Colorado Lottery’s top independent scratch-off ticket game retailer.
The staff at Daytona Mart was shocked: “You won a million dollars!?”
In its press release, the Colorado Lottery left a parting message for Crystal.
“Congratulations, Crystal, and thank you for your service!”
