Winners

Mother and Daughter Play the Same Cash5 Numbers, Each Win $100,000 Top PrizeThis past Mother's Day was extra celebratory for Cheryl Franco of North Haven, and her mother, Elizabeth Thibodeau of Hamden.  Just days before, each woman separately purchased a Cash5 ticket for the May 9 drawing with the "birthdate" numbers of Thibodeau's five grandchildren.

When the Cash5 winning numbers 12 - 13 - 23 - 25 - 26 were drawn for that date, they were an exact match to those printed on Franco and Thibodeau's tickets, each worth $100,000.

"I was watching the drawing on TV.  I heard the numbers, but I wasn't sure if I was right," Franco told Lottery officials.  "I went to the Lottery's website to check the winning numbers and saw there were two [top prize] tickets sold.  I knew I had one [ticket], but I wasn't sure if my mother had played that night and had the other ticket."

The next morning, Franco received a phone call from her brother.  "He said, 'Did you see, Mom won?  I can bring her to [Lottery headquarters] to cash her ticket.'  I told him, 'Yes, I saw, that's really great.  But, I can bring her because I have the other ticket to cash, too,'" Franco said.

Yesterday, Franco and Thibodeau arrived at CT Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to collect their prizes.  "It was a nice surprise," Thibodeau said.  "I knew we liked playing the same Cash5 numbers, we've been playing them for over 20 years, but I didn't know Cheryl had played that night, too."

Thibodeau purchased her winning ticket at Snack Plus II at 75 Putnam Avenue, Hamden.  Franco's was purchased at Valero (BD Ventures) at 414 State Street, North Haven.  Each retailer will receive a $1,000 bonus from the CT Lottery for selling a Cash5 top prize winning ticket.