A television news team showed up Thursday at Al's Convenience Store, 614 W. Market St., Tiffin, where a winning Powerball ticket was sold recently. The owner, Ahmad Salama, said he learned about the sale when it was announced on the Toledo news Wednesday. He did not know the name of the winner, the date of the sale or who sold the ticket worth $1 million.
"Nobody knows," Salama said. "I was here all day yesterday."
The auto-pick ticket matched the five regular numbers in Wednesday's drawing. Florida and Iowa each sold a $1 million ticket, but no one in the nation had a ticket with the numbers 9, 10, 24, 52, 56 and the Powerball, number 14. The top prize is to grow to an estimated $164 million for Saturday. Salama said lottery ticket sales are always brisk at his business.
Article Photos
PHOTO BY MARYANN KROMER
Customers at Al's Convenience Store, 614 W. Market St., can see posters showing past lottery winners whose tickets came from the store.
"We are a lucky store," he said, pointing to a row of posters listing winners from past years.
In 2009, the store had a $1,000 Kicker winner and a $10,000 Cash Blowout winner. In 2010, Salama had $1,000 winners with the Kicker and Big Money games. That same year, a Classic Lotto player won $1,502, and Pick Four paid out $2,700. In 2011, someone received $2,600 for a Pick 4 ticket.
The store sold tickets that gave two individuals a chance to compete on the Cash Explosion television show in 2011 and earlier this year. In addition to the most recent winner, the store had a Mega Millions $2,000 winner this year. Salama expects a financial reward for selling the $1 million ticket, but he is not sure of the amount. A call to the Powerball contact for Ohio was not returned.
"I'm sure somebody's happy around here ... It will be nice if it's somebody local and not just passing through," Salama said.
