Little town celebrates big lottery winner

COLEMAN, Wis. (WBAY) - A man from the Village of Coleman in Marinette County has won a million dollars with a scratch-off lottery ticket, playing “Ultimate Millions” which offers a one in 160,000 chance of winning the big prize.

When a guy in a small town wins that kind of jackpot, word travels fast.

“Real fast, we probably knew before he did,” says Mike Kudick, owner of Kudick Automotive in Coleman.

The lucky ticket came from Cougar Shell, which learned Monday it had sold the million dollar scratch-off ticket.

As you can imagine, the gas station has been buzzing, and busy, ever since.

“It’s definitely a talking point, we have the coffee clutchers and that in the morning, and just regular players, people that come in and buy lottery and stuff all the time, it’s oh I heard, and you know they’ve heard the news, apparently the guy that won has not really been too secretive about it, so pretty much everybody knows who it is, so then our lottery sales have definitely jumped a little since then,” says Don Webb, Cougar Shell district manager.

The state lottery has not identified the winner, but we certainly heard his name all around town.

“I work out at Romy’s Holiday Inn sometimes and it was the talk last night. Everybody was like, hey, did you hear about (him),” says Samantha Frievalt from Coleman.

And while his luck is the talk and envy of those in Coleman, those hoping to congratulate him aren’t having a lot of luck.

“Everybody knows everybody in town, so we all know who he is. We haven’t seen him since, or at least I haven’t. Is he in Hawaii? I’d be. I’m not sure where he’s at, but that’s where I would be,” says Kudick.

“I have not seen him yet. I would assume he’s on vacation somewhere,” adds Webb.

Wherever he is, residents in Coleman are thrilled that the big winner was one of them.

“A lot of times, well, just like the Powerball this morning, it’s California, it’s usually California and New York. To have somebody right here in Coleman that won a million dollars is pretty exciting,” says Webb.