Lotto Winner Hits Jackpot on First Try

Dumb luck.

On Wednesday, 22-year-old Rodney Sittig of Coronado gave the lottery a go. It was his first try, and he won big time: $3.16 million.

Since it was Sittig’s first stab at Super Lotto, the Navy aviation mechanic needed a friend to show him how to play. When the numbers came out in Thursday’s paper, Sittig had to be told to check his ticket.

“Well, I almost won, but I didn’t get them in the right order,” Sittig, with newspaper in hand, told friends.

Check again, Rodney, they said.

It doesn’t matter what order the numbers come in, as long as you have them all, Sittig was told by Danny Ngo, 27, a cashier at Island Market, where the winning ticket was bought.

Sittig had them all.

“Really? I won?” Ngo said, recalling Sittig’s reaction. “I won $3 million?”

Ngo said he couldn’t believe it either. Why Sittig and not him?

“After that, his face turned really red,” Ngo said. “He couldn’t hear anything I was saying. All he could think about was $3 million.”

Sittig will received $156,000, before taxes, each year for 20 years. Island Market will receive $15,600 in commission for selling the winning ticket.

The State Lottery Act requires that 50% of total ticket sales be returned to players as prizes. A minimum 34% goes to public education. The rest goes to commissions and lottery operation.

Sittig is a frequent customer at the market on 4th Street in Coronado, which is about two blocks from his home, Ngo said. He comes in to buy sandwiches and drinks, but only once did he buy a lottery ticket. And that he did against his will.

According to Lottery officials, Sittig said a friend “conned me into buying the ticket.”

Some friend.