Covington Resident Wins Lotto Jackpot from the Aug.1 drawing

Before Katie Engolia's husband threw their nonwinnning Lottery tickets away, he decided to sift through them one more time. That's when he noticed that one ticket had stuck to the back of another. Following his instincts proved worthwhile, since this particular ticket matched the winning numbers from the Aug. 1 Lotto drawing, winning the $718,306 jackpot. 

"The first time my husband checked our tickets, none of them matched. So when he called me and said that he checked them again and we had a winner, I didn't believe him," shared Engolia. "It wasn't until I went to the Lottery Web site and triple checked that I realized our numbers really had matched the Lotto winning numbers."

With tears filling her eyes, Engolia added, "We think it's a gift from God. We are very thankful. In fact, we thought we won less than what we actually did. We were just so happy to have won."

Engolia, age 25 of Covington, said she and her husband regularly play their "trilogy" of Lottery games — Easy 5, Lotto and Powerball.  She received $502,814, after federal and state taxes were withheld and said she plans to use her winnings to buy a house.

Livingston Super Stop on S. Frost Road in Livingston sold Engolia the jackpot winning ticket. The store will receive a bonus of $7,183, which is 1 percent of the prize, for selling the winning ticket. The winning numbers for the Aug. 1 Lotto drawing were 3-4-18-31-34-40.

Lottery ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age.  Draw-style game tickets must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing.  Anyone who may have a gambling problem or friends and family of anyone with a gambling problem should call toll free 1-877-770-7867 for help.  For security purposes, the Lottery strongly encourages players to sign the back of their tickets immediately after purchasing.