Pennsylvania man not sick, just won a $1 million Cash 5 jackpot

When a Pennsylvania man's twin brother told him to come down to his house, he thought he was either sick or he won the lottery. It turns out he did win the Pennsylvania Lottery!

The big jackpot win

Michael Matyas, 70, of Washington County, purchased his Quick Pick Cash 5 with Quick Cash on the day of the drawing, which happened to take place on Friday, July 19, 2024. However, he didn't check to see if he was a winner until two days later.

He told lottery officials, “I was very surprised when I checked the ticket that Sunday. I had to look at the ticket about 10 times before believing it.”

Matyas purchased the winning ticket from Giant Penn LLC (Exxon), located at 1001 Maple Drive in Charleroi. For selling the winning ticket, the lucky retailer earned a $5,000 bonus from the Pennsylvania Lottery.

The winning numbers for that July 19 drawing were 2, 3, 10, 11, and 26. Of course, Matyas matched all five numbers to win the jackpot for that night, which was $1 million.

Either he was sick or won the lottery

After it finally sank in that Matyas won the Cash 5 jackpot, he said:

I immediately called my twin brother, who lives nearby, and told him he needed to come down but didn't tell him why. My brother said, 'Well, he's either sick or he hit the lottery.'

As it turns out, thankfully, he did hit the lottery!

Presenting him with a commemorative check

On Tuesday, August 20, officials from the Pennsylvania Lottery and Giant Penn LLC (Exxon) presented Matyas with a commemorative $1 million check for hitting the Cash 5 jackpot. The check presentation was held at Giant Penn LLC (Exxon), the location where Matyas purchased the ticket.

At the ceremony, Matyas told lottery officials that he retired 10 years ago and just recently retired from a part-time job he was working. Now that he has the prize money, he said he plans on helping his children, paying off some bills, and spending more time enjoying one of his favorite hobbies, golf!

Matyas added, “I'm still taking it all in. This whole experience has been fantastic.”

Secretary of Revenue Pat Browne said:

Congratulations to Michael on this life-changing prize. We'd also like to congratulate our retailer, Giant Penn LLC (Exxon), for selling the big Cash 5 winner. Thanks to our loyal players and retailers, the Pennsylvania Lottery is able to continue generating proceeds to pay for life-sustaining programs and services our senior population relies upon.

Cari Mackesy, manager of Giant Penn LLC (Exxon), said they were happy to keep the money in the community, “Congratulations to Michael for winning this prize! We are incredibly excited for him. We are excited that a local community member will get to enjoy this. Our sincerest congratulations to him!”

No records here

While the $1 million prize was definitely nice, it was not close to the record jackpot for Cash 5. This jackpot run that Matyas won began on July 7, 2024, and lasted until he won the $1 million jackpot on the July 19, 2024, drawing.

However, the game's biggest jackpot came on November 6, 2023, when two winning tickets sold in Schuylkill and Fayette counties shared the $3.2 million jackpot for that night.

Enjoy playing the Pennsylvania Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.