Community Corner

$3.2 Million Lottery Winner: 'I only bought 10 tickets in my life'

PJ's Car Wash sold the sole winning ticket in Thursday's drawing

The winner of Thursday's Pick 6 lotto jackpot can thank PJ's Car Wash for the lucky ticket.

The single winning ticket was sold at the car wash, located at Route 35 and Allaire Road, sometime Wednesday.

"We're really exicted,'' said car wash manager Jennifer Hartranft. "I was just telling someone that we ought to make a sign.''

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Hartranft said employees are awaiting news of the lucky winner and also have narrowed down the ticket seller to two people: herself and one other employee.

"We're definitely anxious to find out who it is,'' Hartranft said.

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They may have to wait. The winner claimed his prize Friday and requested to be named by first name only. "Michael,'' whose age and hometown were not identified, told lottery officials that he was not an avid lottery player, according to a release.

“I only bought 10 tickets in my life,” Michael told lottery officials in a release. “I attend mass in Spring Lake Heights once or twice a week and maybe once a month, I stop at the car wash. They recently began selling lottery tickets so I thought it would be a kick if I bought some tickets.”

Michael is an avid runner and athlete and says he plans to pay off his mortgage and buy a “nice standing up paddle board,” according to the release.

There were 595,597 tickets sold for the Thursday, March 21 Pick 6 Lotto drawing but only one matched all six numbers. The winning numbers were 14, 15, 17, 21, 33 and 49.

Thursday's jackpot was the second major lottery payday sold in Monmouth County this month.

Earlier, a $1 million Powerball ticket was sold in Manalapan.

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