Chattanoogan Wins $52K In North Georgia Lottery; Retired Dalton Officer Wins $328K Fantasy 5 Prize

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Chattanooga man, Anderson Benn, 69, won $1,000 a week for a year playing the instant game Weekly Bonus, in the Georgia Lottery. 

Mr. Benn claimed his prize, which totals a top prize of $52,000, at the Georgia Lottery District Office in Dalton. Sunset Market #0003, 600 Chickamauga Ave. in Rossville, sold the winning ticket.

“I scratched it in the store,” Mr. Benn said. “My wife, she was happy.” The lucky winner and his wife, Beverly, have no immediate plans. “There are things that I need to do,” Mr. Benn said.

The store, Sunset Market #0003, also has sold a winning Fantasy 5 ticket worth $557,385 in 2010.

A retired city of Dalton police officer also won. George Cooper of Dalton matched all numbers in the June 14 Fantasy 5 drawing, winning a $328,471 jackpot prize.

Mr. Cooper, 66, claimed his prize at Georgia Lottery headquarters in Atlanta.

Winning numbers from the June 14 Fantasy 5 drawing were: 6-12-19-28-37. Kangaroo Express #3581, 3390 Airport Road in Dalton, sold the winning Quik Pik ticket.

Mr. Cooper was shocked to discover he had won. “I got up and checked my numbers online,” he said. “I could not believe it.”

The retired law enforcement officer worked for eight years for the city before retiring in 2002. Mr. Cooper now works part time at a local college. He and his wife, Carolyn, are ecstatic, looking forward toward “having a better retirement.”

“I want to make my family members happier,” Mr. Cooper shared. “We’re also talking about vacationing in Hawaii.” 

Last November, the lucky store, Kangaroo Express #3581, sold a winning instant ticket valued for a 2012 Jeep Wrangler. 

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $13.4 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.4 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.


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