Deep River, CT Resident Wins Cashword 14 Prize in Centerbrook, CT

Ticket Sold at Centerbrook, Connecticut Cumberland Farms

REGIONAL - While Cumberlands Farms touts itself as "the stop that keeps you going," for one local resident, it was a stop that fattened her pocketbook.

With her husband running errands, Michelle Lee Farrell, of Deep River, stopped at the Centerbrook Cumberland Farms to buy some lottery tickets. 

"I like playing Cashword. I like the bingo scratch games, too," Farrell said.

Arriving back at the car, Farrell scratched the latex off the surface of the $3 "Cashword 14" ticket and was stunned in disbelief.

While those with tickets that reveal eight complete words win $100 and those with tickets revealing nine complete words win $1,000, Farrell's ticket revealed 10 complete words which meant she won the top Cashword 14 prize of $25,000.

"I kept counting and recounting the number of words. Then I told my husband, turn this car around and go back, honey, we just won the big one," Farrell said with a laugh.

While the Connecticut Lottery reports that the overall chance of winning a prize from "Cashword 14" is 1 in 3.74, most winners win prize amounts that are $100 or less.

Those who win prizes more than $5,000 must bring two forms of identification to redeem them at the Connecticut Lottery Corporation Headquarters in New Britain.

Farrell was more than willing to safely tuck her ticket away and wait until the following Monday when she went with her husband to accept the $17,501 check, the value after taxes.

The couple hopes that lady luck is on their side and plan to use their winnings for an exciting vacation.

"I've been to Las Vegas once; I'd love to go again," Farrell said.

While some locals get lucky playing slots or tables at casinos here in Connecticut, others have had the good fortune of purchasing winning lottery tickets at this Cumberland Farms, located at 82 Main Street in the Centerbrook section of Essex, not far from the Route 9 exit 3 interchange.

The Connecticut Lottery reports that in February 2003, Kenneth Mitchell, of Ivoryton, won a $1.0 million Classic Lotto jackpot ticket overcoming the odds estimated at 1 in over 7 million.