Rick Cooper Jr. is $1.2 million richer after purchasing a winning $2 million Hoosier Lottery Monopoly scratch-off lottery ticket at a Warsaw gas station.
Cooper, 36, Plymouth, purchased a $10 Monopoly scratch off ticket Wednesday at Lassus Brothers Handy Dandy gas station, Plaza Drive, Warsaw.
Cooper has been a service technician at Sands Office Equipment Services, Warsaw, for 2-1/2 years. His wife, April, is an activities director at Miller’s Merry Manor, Plymouth.
They have four daughters: Olivia, 4; Shelbi, 14; Megan, 12; McKinzi, 10; and three sons, Ricky, 14; Sean, 12; and Benjamin, 2.
A check presentation ceremony was Monday afternoon at the gas station.
After withholdings, Cooper’s prize was $1.2 million, according to Al Larsen, Hoosier Lottery public relations manager.
Monday was the second time in five weeks that Larsen has been in Warsaw to present a winning lottery check.
Ron Redden, Winona Lake, previously won a $1 million Mega Millions lottery ticket Dec. 6 at Phillips 66, Warsaw.
Cooper said he plays scratch-off four times a week, and likes to play the scratch-off at Lassus Brothers Handy Dandy.
Cooper said Wednesday started off as a normal day. He usually purchases cards numbered 25 to 40, and the winning number he purchased was 36.
“I was coming back from a service call and stopped into Lassus to purchase a $10 Monopoly lottery scratch-off ticket and took it out to my car and scratched it and couldn’t believe I had won,” Cooper said.
He said Lassus Brothers Handy Dandy owners were at the station overseeing renovations when he purchased the ticket and showed them the ticket.
He said he returned inside the gas station because he couldn’t believe he had won.
“I wanted to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me because I usually wear glasses, but they had broken and I couldn’t wear them and I really didn’t have full vision at the time,” Cooper said.
Missy Holley, category manager for Lassus Handy Dandy, sold Cooper the winning ticket.
He said he asked Holley if it was a winning ticket and she looked at it along with Jeryl Leamon, Lassus store manager, and told him he had indeed won.
Leamon said the $1.2 million amount is the largest that has been won at the store. There are 31 Lassus Handy Dandy stores in the northeastern part of Indiana including four stores in Ohio, Leamon said.
Leamon said the New Haven Lassus Handy Dandy had a $1 million scratch off winner.
“There have been a few $1,000 paid out and a $1,500 on a scratch-off, but this is by far the largest that has been paid out at this store,” Leamon said.
Leamon said she was glad to see a regular customer win, and said she feels he will use the money wisely for his family.
Cooper said after talking to store employees about his win he went back to work.
“I returned to work because I had to tell them I needed to leave to claim my ticket,” Cooper said.
He said he then called his wife who didn’t believe he had won.
“For some strange reason I am a prankster, and I say some things and people don’t believe me half the time,” Cooper said.
April said, “He always told me if he hits it big he would never call me, he would just show up at my work so he called me at work and I didn’t believe he had won.”
“He told me I needed to talk to my boss about getting the rest of the day off, and I told him my boss was in a corporate meeting and if he was kidding about winning the lottery and I pulled her out of the meeting I told him jokingly I would divorce him,” April said.
April said Cooper is known to play tricks and it’s in his nature to be a clown with his kids, family and friends.
Cooper said after he convinced his wife that he had won by showing up at her work to show her the ticket, and convincing her boss that it was real, he and his wife headed to Indianapolis to collect the winnings.
Cooper said it sunk in he had won the lottery the moment he gave the lottery official the winning ticket and they said, “it’s a good ticket.”
When asked what Cooper will do with the money, he said he already has purchased a used Ford Fusion vehicle to drive to work for himself from a Plymouth auto dealer. He said he wanted to make sure he shopped locally and supported local businesses. He also purchased his wife a new Lincoln Navigator.
“We have seven kids so we needed something big,” Cooper said with a laugh.
The family also paid bills off, and said they have plans on concentrating to manage their money and start college funds for their children.
April said her son had surgery last spring to correct his hearing loss, and she was awoken by a bill collector for his hospital bill.
“I said I really should answer that but I didn’t so I laid back down and was comfortable with the fact that it would get taken care of,” April said.
There also are plans for a family trip to Disney World, possibly purchasing a dog and a home. The family currently lives in an apartment in Plymouth.
Cooper said he told his children the night that he won the lottery.
“They were so happy about getting a puppy and taking a family vacation to Disney,” Cooper said.
Cooper’s father died before Thanksgiving so some of the money will go to help Cooper’s mother.
Despite winning the lottery, the Coopers said they have plans to continue working. Cooper also plans to continue to play the lottery.
“I more than likely will continue to play, maybe go after the bigger jackpots,” Cooper said.
