A $1.35M lottery ticket was sold at a Macon gas station. Now, its sales are spiking

A Maconite walked into the CITGO Village Market on Gray Highway last week and left with a ticket worth $1.35 million.

Since then, the store has seen a spike in lottery ticket sales, according to the owner.

“We’re very excited that someone who comes here everyday to play with us won is going to be a millionaire and the ticket was sold from us,” said Amin Tharani, owner of Village Place Market, 1980 Gray Highway. “It’s a neighborhood store, so everyone’s coming in, asking about it. Who won? We don’t know, but someone among us is winning.”

Georgia lottery officials confirmed a Macon resident won the July 8 Fantasy 5 game with a more than million dollar prize, before taxes. The winner has already claimed the prize, lottery officials said, and has chosen to remain anonymous.

To win the Fantasy 5, players select five numbers between 1 and 42 and choose a number of plays and drawings, sign their ticket and then check online or back in the store to see if they’ve won.

Earlier this week, The Georgia Lottery Corporation announced more than $1.5 billion in profits, more than last year’s record $1.24 billion.

The lottery has returned more than $23.8 billion to education in Georgia since voters approved a referendum creating the program in 1992, according to reporting from Capitol Beat. More than 1.9 million students have received lottery-funded HOPE scholarships, while more than 1.6 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide voluntary Pre-K program.