Local man wins millions in trip to grocery store

By Staff (89575)

Tuesday, May 2, 2006
© Copyright 2013 Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE - Unless they are going to cash a paycheck, it's not often that people leave the grocery store richer than they arrive.

But Lawrenceville's Daniel Snoke celebrated a different kind of payday Monday, when he picked up a $2.5 million check from the Georgia Lottery.

Snoke won the top instant game prize from the lottery when he stopped by a local Publix to buy some groceries.

During the check ceremony Monday, Snoke said he scratched the ticket in the store, learned he was an instant millionaire, then forgot all about shopping.

"I turned to a store employee and said, 'Will you look at this?' She looked at it and got hysterical," Snoke said in a press release about his experience at the store on Pleasant Hill Road. "Everybody in customer service couldn't believe it. Their jaws all dropped. ... I went in there to do some shopping and just forgot all about that. I was so excited that I just left."

Snoke, a manager at a manufacturing company, considered his winnings a belated birthday present, since he turned 50 last month.

But he still isn't sure what he'll do with the money.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," he said.

According to lottery officials, Snoke's winning ticket is from a new game - the $300 Million Gold Rush, which went on sale statewide Jan. 31. It is a $10 game with 30 millionaires and the highest instant game top prize in Georgia history.

The game offers more than $304 million in total cash prizes including 10 top prizes of $2.5 million, 20 $1 million prizes, more than 19,600 prizes from $1,000 to $50,000 and nearly 500,000 prizes from $100 to $500.

Sign in to comment

Or login with:

OpenID

Gwinnett Daily Post