Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The word spread that Ararat Grocery had a winner. So when Puckett's brother Reggie called Sunday and claimed he was the winner, Puckett thought Reggie was just joking.
Sure. Right. Uh-huh. Raleigh Puckett joked that there was a four-wheel drive with air conditioning that he wanted Reggie to buy him.
But it was no joke. Fifteen minutes later, Reggie Puckett showed up at the store with the winning lottery ticket. The numbers on it were: 1, 13, 15, 21, 41, 43.
"Sure enough, he was a winner," Raleigh Puckett said. "He was just as calm as he could be. He didn't seem like any instant millionaire. . . .
"He was taking it pretty well."
On Monday, Norman Reggie Puckett, 52, the owner of a concrete-finishing business in Mount Airy, N.C., went to Richmond and picked up the first installment on his half of the $20.5 million jackpot. The other winning ticket was purchased in Fredericksburg.
Raleigh Puckett has taken a bit of ribbing from his customers as news of his brother's win has spread.
"We had it rigged, some way," Raleigh Puckett told one customer with a laugh. "I don't think so - If I could rig it, I'd rig it for myself."
Because they're not Virginia Lottery employees, store owners are free to play lottery games just like anyone else.
Raleigh Puckett's grocery on Virginia 773 is just a few miles from the North Carolina line. But he sells relatively few tickets to out-of-staters - perhaps only about 10 percent of the 2,000 or so jackpot tickets his store sells each week.
He said his brother bought an occasional ticket from the store. The winning ticket was one of $20 worth of tickets that Norman Puckett let the computer pick for him, his brother said.
Raleigh Puckett said he was happy for his brother - his only regret is he didn't buy the winning ticket himself.
Reggie Puckett could not be reached for comment Monday.
But Virginia Lottery officials quoted him as saying that "he has no immediate plans for his winnings, but he knows he will be sharing them with his family - which includes his wife, two daughters, their four children, four brothers and two sisters."
We assume Raleigh is in there somewhere. Raleigh Puckett will definitely receive some money out of the deal - a $5,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
by CNB