David DeBlauwe, 74, bought his winning ticket at the Marathon gas station, located at 45525 Van Dyke Avenue in Utica.
“I buy $10 Cashword tickets every single day, and I always purchase them from the same store,” said DeBlauwe. “I bought my tickets as usual one day and started scratching them off. I revealed six words, then seven, and once I got to nine, I thought that was it, and was thrilled to have won $1,000. When I revealed the tenth word, I was in disbelief!
“I re-counted the words several times, and I even had my daughter re-count multiple times. When we were sure of what we were seeing, she scanned the ticket on the Lottery app to confirm. It’s shocking my eyes didn’t burn a hole in the ticket from staring at it so much!”
The lucky player visited Lottery headquarters recently to claim his big prize. With his winnings, he plans to purchase a home, pay off his car, and invest.
“A lot of people say winning the Lottery is a life-changer, but to me it’s a life saver,” said DeBlauwe.
Players have won more than $6 million playing Top Secret Cashword, which launched in December 2023. Each $5 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $5 up to $300,000. More than $30 million in prizes remain, including two $300,000 top prizes and 16 $1,000 prizes.
In 2022, Lottery players won more than $1.7 billion playing instant games.
Lottery instant games may be purchased at any of the 10,500 retailers across the state.