‘Lottery Club’ claims $2M on ticket sold in Fairfield

And the winner of that $2 million lottery ticket sold in Fairfield is “The Lottery Club,” a group of 31 people who will share the prize.

Six years ago, Karen Cross, of Trumbull, organized the Lottery Club at her place of work at Al Filippone Associates at William Raveis Real Estate in Fairfield, where she collected the money, bought the tickets and checked the numbers after every drawing.

According to a Connecticut Lottery release, Cross received an early morning text alert that a $2 million winning Mega Millions ticket was sold in Connecticut for the Aug. 24 drawing.

When she later learned the winning ticket was sold at Wheels Convenience Store in Fairfield, she kicked into high gear — it was the same place she last purchased the group’s tickets.

The winning numbers drawn on Aug. 24 were 1, 6, 13, 18, 49, Mega Ball 8 and Megaplier 2.

Tickets in hand, Cross discovered one that missed the winning Mega Ball number, but matched the first five white ball numbers drawn.

“I wasn’t sure what we won,” Karen told Lottery officials. “I thought it was $5,000 at first, but we were optimistic.”

Wasting no time, Cross returned to Wheels and scanned the ticket, while coworker Vicki Ihlefeld, of Fairfield, FaceTimed with two other members of the Lottery Club back at the office.

When the congratulatory message “Winner $2,000,000” popped up on the ticket checker, the club witnesses were all shocked.

“We stayed quiet and held it together in the store — we got goosebumps, but when we got inside the car, we both just started screaming,” she told Lottery officials

Because the Mega Millions “Quick Pick” ticket was purchased (with another buck) with the Megaplier feature added, the $1 million prize was automatically multiplied by two for $2 million.

On Thursday, Cross and several other co-workers arrived at Connecticut Lottery Headquarters in Rocky Hill to claim the $2 million prize on behalf of all 31 members of the Lottery Club.

Once the prize is divvied up among the winners, each will receive $64,516.13 before taxes.

“I always wanted one of these,” said Cross, as she was handed the supersized “Winner” check by Lottery officials and the group erupted into laughter. “I can’t believe we’re here. It’s been such a nice thing to share this experience with everyone together. We’re all so grateful.”

For selling the winning ticket, Wheels, 2047 Post Road in Fairfield, will receive a $2,500 bonus from the Connecticut Lottery.