JACKSON – It is said you have to be in it to win it and the lucky person who bought a ticket at a township convenience store has 32 million reasons to be glad they were in it.
The New Jersey Lottery announced this week that the $32 million Pick-6 jackpot has been hit by one ticket purchased on January 17 in Ocean County. That winning ticket was sold at the Quick Mart located at 665 Bennetts Mills Road.
The lucky retailers of the Jackson Quick Mart received a ceremonial $10,000 bonus check this week for selling the only winning ticket for the jackpot. The owners include Mitesh Patel, Arrind Patel and Mital Prajapati. They were joined by Store Manager Mahesh Prajapti and Lottery Sales Representative Tom Dlug during a New Jersey Lottery news conference held at the store.
The enlarged yellow cardboard check for $32 million briefly placed on an easel for the event wasn’t presented because the identity of the winner is at this point, unknown. “Congratulations to our latest Pick-6 winner! This marks the first Pick-6 jackpot of 2025,” said Executive Director James Carey of the State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury Division of State Lottery.
He noted that “the winning numbers for the Monday, January 20, drawing are: 04, 11, 12, 15, 27 and 39.” The jackpot was reset to $2 million for the next drawing that will be held on January 23.
This enlarged yellow cardboard check for $32 million wasn’t presented to the lottery winner during a press conference held at the Quick Mart located at 665 Bennetts Mills Road, Jackson Township as the identity of the winner was unknown at the time. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
The identity of the winner may never be known unless they wish to come forward to the public. “Winners can remain anonymous in New Jersey,” Carey said prior to the news conference. He said that the presentation of the retail bonus check “gives us a chance to do a little advertising for the Lottery and it lets people know that we had a big winner and urge people to come out and get their prize.”
Carey requested that the retailers not guess at who they think might have purchased the winning ticket because “we had a Power Ball winner and they were speculating about the person who was described as down on their luck and he said during the presentation, ‘I’m not down on my luck.’ He had very good luck. He was very well off. He was fine. He said ‘I drive a school bus because I like to.’”
“You really don’t know who you will get as a winner,” Carey added.
Store Manager Mahesh Prajapti told The Jackson Times prior to the news conference that “we raise around $50,000 a week gross in sale of lottery tickets. We have been open since June 2021. This our first big winner.”
Owner Mitesh Patel said last year the store sold a ticket to a $3 million cash winner and in 2023 “we sold one for a million dollars and in 2022 we sold $548,000. We are gradually going up. This is all good advertisement for the store.”
“When we say anything can happen in New Jersey, we mean it!” Carey said during the presentation. “The winning jackpot started rolling on June 17, 2024 and there were 63 drawings since then, without a winner. Our lucky jackpot winner wasn’t the only winner – over one million Pick-6 players took home $6.3 million in prizes since that last jackpot was won. Nearly 6,800 New Jersey Lottery retailers in New Jersey – everything from small mom and pop business to large corporate chains – have shared a commission which they will receive approximately $2.3 million in commission since that last jackpot was won in June.”
Carey added, “this is the first time Pick-6 jackpot has been won in 2025. It was won three times in 2024.” He noted that the last Pick-6 ticket was sold at a convenience store in Mount Laurel “and that was a $3 million prize.”
A $32 million prize winning lottery ticket was purchased at this Quick Mart located at 665 Bennetts Mills Road, Jackson Township. The identity of the winner was unknown at the time a New Jersey Lottery News Conference held this week. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
He urged ticket purchasers to sign the back of their tickets as an added measure to illustrate proof that it is their ticket and to visit the New Jersey Lottery’s website to review “our winners guide. We tell people who win jackpots this big to talk to a lawyer, talk to a financial planner, talk to an accountant and come down as soon as you can and meet with us so we can talk about awarding your prize.”
The Jackson Times asked the owners how they plan to spend the $10,000 they received. Owner Mitesh Patel responded, “we plan to go to the township and see what we can do to help out with the food pantry. We haven’t planned it out yet but we will do something for charity.”
Patel told the unknown winner, “Hopefully you can change your life with that money.”
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