New Jersey Lottery Million Dollar Replay Awards $1.5 Million
Saturday March 7th 2020James Wood had a feeling all week that Friday would be his lucky day. So when his name was called at the New Jersey Lottery's Million Dollar Replay event, the retired trucker excitedly jumped out of his seat.
Wood, of Little Egg Harbor in Ocean County, won $1 million at the Grand Prize Drawing on March 6. The 56-year-old, who had been sitting anxiously in the audience, was tearful as he hugged his brother-in-law, Jeffrey Brook.
"Can I take it home?" Wood asked after receiving his giant replica check.
Wood said he's in shock and feels like his wildest dreams have come true. He said he had joked with his family that he had to be the big winner. Now he can actually put his money where his mouth is!
The thing Wood was most excited to do was tell his 16-year-old daughter that he won. And she would travel home from school in style: "I told her I'm going to send a limo for her if I won," he said.
What were his plans for the money? Wood replied that he would like to take a family vacation in Hawaii this summer, and he also wanted to go to Disneyland.
And the winner hadn't forgotten his brother-in-law, who attended the event with him, saying he would give Brook a new patio.
15 finalists selected from 15 million tickets
The New Jersey Million Dollar Replay gives players another shot at winning on instant tickets that didn't score a prize the first time around.
In 2019, players entered over 15 million non-winning scratch-off tickets into the second-chance drawing. Every quarter, 100 names were chosen and won $250 each, plus an entry into the Grand Prize Drawing.
The 400 semi-finalists and their guests gathered at the Asbury Park Convention Hall on March 6 for the exciting event. New Jersey Lottery Executive Director James Carey welcomed guests and assisted host Lauren Berman with the drawing, while Master of Ceremonies Steve Trevelise of NJ101.5 entertained the crowd. The drawing was supervised by Mercadien, P.C. Certified Public Accountants.
"This is the ninth consecutive year that New Jersey Lottery has held this spectacular event to provide lottery players with second chances to win cash prizes with previously non-winning scratch-off game tickets," Carey said. "Our semi-finalists were in the audience to experience the anticipation, excitement and potential of becoming a millionaire."
15 finalists were selected on Friday and won a total of $1.5 million in prizes. Seven $1,000 door prizes and eight gift baskets were also awarded to attendees, and CA$HNADO and prize wheels offered more chances to win.
In addition to Wood's grand prize win, fourteen finalists won prizes from $10,000 to $100,000. The two $100,000 winners were from Gloucester and Monmouth counties.
"Now I can pay back everyone I owe," joked Deborah Torres of Middletown, one of the $100,000 winners.
It was a big day for Ocean County, which is home not only to Wood but also three other winners, Robert Marzano of Ortley Beach ($50,000), Robert Harris of Jackson ($25,000), and Valeria Hassall of Whiting ($10,000).
These are the 15 Garden State winners who took home big prizes:
- $1,000,000 - James Wood of Little Egg Harbor
- $100,000 - Bryant Kidd of Mullica Hill
- $100,000 - Deborah Torres of Middletown
- $50,000 - Korinne Forsman of Pilesgrove
- $50,000 - Robert Marzano of Ortley Beach
- $50,000 - Michael Zardzed of Wayne
- $25,000 - Robert Harris of Jackson
- $25,000 - Donna Mauro of Sicklerville
- $25,000 - Deborah Roon of Clifton
- $25,000 - Joseph Sysko Jr. of Parsippany
- $10,000 - Thomas Dalton of Bordentown
- $10,000 - Valeria Hassall of Whiting
- $10,000 - George Horvath of Hackettstown
- $10,000 - Kindzi Johansmeyer of Oakland
- $10,000 - Brian Nagle of Middletown
New Jersey Lottery launches Super 50 scratch-off
The New Jersey Lottery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and released a new oversized instant win game last week as part of the festivities. The new Super 50 game was introduced on March 2 and costs $10 per play. The Lottery now offers 95 scratch-off games.
The Super 50 is literally the Lottery's biggest game ever: each ticket is eight inches wide by 12 inches tall. That's more than twice the size of any previous instant win games. In fact, the super-size ticket requires its own double-wide bin. Super 50 is available at most of NJ's 7,000 lottery retailers.
As players scratch the huge ticket, they should be on the lookout for $50 bonuses, money bags, multipliers - and of course the $500,000 jackpot!
“Jersey Lottery players love Scratch-Offs, and this is the ultimate BIG game," said James Carey, the Lottery’s Executive Director. "It offers players an incredible 50 chances to win, making it the perfect way to celebrate 50 years of the New Jersey Lottery.”
As the country's third-oldest lottery, New Jersey is celebrating its 50th in style, getting the party started in January with Kickoff Events in Bridgewater and Atlantic City.
Latest New Jersey Lottery prizes
Last week was a big one for Jersey players.
A Jersey Cash 5 ticket sold in Atlantic County won the $360,908 jackpot in the Wednesday, March 4 drawing. The winning numbers were 10, 15, 25, 35, and 41, and the XTRA multiplier number was 03. The ticket was purchased at Starn's Village, 616 Whitehorse Pike, Absecon.
A Powerball ticket sold in Somerset County also won big on Wednesday - it's worth $50,000. The ticket matched four out of five white balls plus the red Powerball. The winning numbers in the March 4 draw were 18, 43, 58, 60, 68, and Powerball 14. The lucky ticket was sold at Shoprite #466, 611 West Union Avenue, Bound Brook.
Wednesday's Powerball draw also brought prizes totalling around $102,626 to 20,761 New Jersey winners. The prizes ranged from $4 to $200.
Meanwhile, the Pick-6 jackpot has rolled over to $3.4 million for the next drawing on Monday, March 9.
And New Jersey's $202 million Mega Millions jackpot winner from the February 11 draw has not yet come forward to claim!
While we're waiting, find out if the prize made it into the top 10 New Jersey jackpot wins, and where the state ranks in the top 10 states that love the lottery.
It's possible we'll never know the winner's identity, after the state passed a law in January giving winners the right to stay anonymous if they choose.
New Jersey Lottery app
Have you won a prize in a Garden State game? Download the free NJ Lottery iOS app to find out - it's got lots of handy features, including:
- Winning numbers for NJ games plus multi-state lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions
- Archive results
- Detailed payouts
- Ticket checker - find out if you've won
- Number generator - get random numbers selected for you.