Boardman man wins lottery

By COURTNEY DENEN

cdenen@vindy.com

All those trips to the lottery counter finally paid off for Boardman’s Joseph Kukla.

Kukla, 52, held one of two winning tickets for the Dec. 28 Rolling Cash 5 drawing. He made his claim Dec. 29 at the Ohio Lottery’s Youngstown regional office.

As one of two winning ticket holders, Kukla splits the $154,000 jackpot prize and will receive a check for approximately $53,130 after mandatory federal and state tax withholdings, totaling 31 percent.

Kukla said the money will go toward a variety of things.

“I have two daughters, one is finished with college and the other one is finishing up, so we’ll pay college loans. We’ll put some toward home improvement, and probably invest a little. It’s a lot of money, but it will be gone fast,” he said. Kukla has been playing the lottery for quite some time and it finally paid off.

“I played since, I don’t even know when the Rolling Cash started, but I’ve played for a long time,” he said.

Kukla, who chose his own numbers, purchased his winning ticket from Havana House on Boardman-Canfield Road in Youngstown. This is where he makes all his lottery purchases.

“The guy who owns it is a friend of mine and that’s why I play there,” he said.

The winning numbers were 5-7-9-14-21, a combination of his two daughters’ and wife’s birthdays.

“I always play those numbers,” he said.

Havana House receives a $500 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The other winning ticket was sold in Columbus.

Kukla and his family were watching TV the night of the drawing and that’s how he discovered he had won.

“I see the five numbers and I knew I had them. I gave the ticket to my wife or daughter, I don’t remember which one, to verify the numbers,” he said. “It’s kind of unbelievable, we haven’t received the check yet so until it’s in hand, it won’t feel real.”

Kukla plans on continuing to play the big games in the lottery.

“You never know,” he said.