One Kearny resident now has 4.5 million reasons to be happy.
Stanley M. McKelvin, of Kearny, won the Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, Pick-6 $4.5 million jackpot, New Jersey Lottery Acting Executive Director James A. Carey announced.
McKelvin had the only jackpot-winning ticket for the drawing. Since McKelvin elected to take the cash option, his payout totaled $3.22 million.
He’s a regular lottery player.
Though he always likes to have his tickets on-hand so he has a shot at winning, he hadn’t played in the days leading up to the drawing. But on Monday, Feb. 25, he decided to buy some tickets since it had been a while since he played.
While working the next day, he stopped at Buy Rite Liquors by the Kearny Walmart, where he had bought his tickets and saw that the winning ticket for the Pick-6 jackpot drawing had been sold there. The retailer scanned his ticket and told him the message said to file a claim — they both knew McKelvin had won the jackpot.
“I don’t want to sound cliché, but they say all you need is a dollar and a dream, and it’s true,” McKelvin said. “I don’t think it’s hit me yet.”
McKelvin says he called his dad when he realized he won — and then his brother.
“The tone of his voice, I could tell he won,” his brother said. “I cried tears of joy.”
The $4.5 million jackpot is the second New Jersey Pick-6 jackpot claimed this year. Judith, Kenny and Sarah Smith, the winners of the Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, Pick-6 Jackpot, filed their claim in January, making them the first Pick-6 multi-millionaires of 2019.
For selling the winning Pick-6 jackpot ticket, Buy Rite Liquors got a $10,000 bonus.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.