A Concord man won $1 million dollars in this week's huge Powerball drawing, but almost lost his ticket before he even realized that he won.
Bart Stimer, 45, of Concord, matched the five white ball numbers in the drawing, which gave him the prize of $1 million in the $1.6 billion jackpot.
He bought his winning ticket at the Horton Depot, located at 389 South Moscow Road in Horton. Horton is about 12 miles southeast of Jackson
.
"My wife, Kiersten, and I were on our way to race our horses in Cleveland and I stopped to grab a drink on the way out of town," said Stimer. "I saw the jackpot was getting pretty high, so I bought on Easy Pick ticket."
Bart and his wife stopped at a toll booth in Ohio, and as they pulled away, the ticket on the dashboard nearly flew out the window. Stimer was able to grab it, and put it away in a cubby in the truck.
Once they got home from their trip, the couple heard that someone had bought a winning ticket from the store where they had purchased their ticket.
"When she told me that someone had bought a winning ticket there, I got to my truck as fast as I could to check my ticket," said Stimer. "I had memorized two of the winning numbers, the 04 and 08, so when I saw I had those, I thought I might have the winner."
The couple was shocked to learn they had a winning million-dollar ticket.
"I won't believe this is actually happening until I make a big deposit at my bank," said Stimer.
Stimer turned his winning ticket in at the lottery headquarters on Friday and claimed his prize. He plans to pay off debt and set up college funds for his three kids.
"I'm happy to have won $1 million. It won't change our lifestyle, we'll be the same people we've always been, we'll just be a little more comfortable," Stimer said.
