Lake Zurich man wins big Powerball

Friday, May 18, 2007 posted 10:16 AM EDT

PLYMOUTH – Dale Chellis had five bucks in change from his liquor store purchase April 28 when he gave clerk Amanda Labbe the change and asked her for five Powerball lottery easy-picks.

Chellis, of Lake Zurich, Ill., semiretired from the high-tech industry, was in his hometown for his mother's 85th birthday. He was fixing the roof on the porch of her Merrill Street home and went to the liquor store at about 3:15 p.m. Although he said he does not usually play the lottery, he had the change and saw the machine and made the purchase on a whim.

Returning home to Illinois, he said he was about to throw away the lottery ticket when he decided to check the New Hampshire State Lottery Web site for the winning numbers.

His heart, he said, did not skip a beat when he saw the numbers.

"No," he said, "it stopped."

The ticket -- the only winning number sold in the nation -- was worth $67 million.

His wife, Toni Sergott, an administrative secretary at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Ill., was at work but could not be reached.

"I couldn't get hold of her," he said, "I wanted another set of eyes" to check the winning numbers.

He called the liquor store on Tenney Mountain Highway and spoke to clerk Bonnie Albert, who confirmed that they had sold the ticket the same day he was in.

When the couple arrived at the New Hampshire Lottery Commission headquarters on Tuesday, they waited breathlessly for the machine to accept the piece of paper and the electronic announcement "Congratulations, You're A Winner!"

The feeling, Sergott said, "was unbelievable."

Yesterday the winning couple turned up unexpectedly at the Plymouth store where they had bought the ticket. They came to attend a ceremony for the clerks who will share a $30,000 incentive prize from the lottery sale.

Chellis, who graduated from Plymouth High School in 1961, has worked in the high-tech field all over the country. Sergott is a lifelong resident of Illinois. The two have no children but two very spoiled cats.

"They can't get any more spoiled," Sergott said.

They said they are unsure about continued work and life at Lake Zurich, about 40 miles northwest of Chicago.

Chellis said they have not told their friends and are just getting used to the idea that they are multimillionaires.

"It was one of the fortunate circumstances," Chellis said.

The couple chose the lump-sum payment of $31 million, which is $23.9 million after taxes.

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