Norwalk Neighbors Win Cool Million from Lottery (Before Taxes)

Norwalk neighbors Lester Bilyou, Sr. and Brandon Dupee together won the July 4 drawing of the "$1,000,000 Super Draw 2" lottery run by the Connecticut State Lottery, the agency annouced Thursday.

Neighbors for six years, they jointly bought several tickets that day at , 136 Main St., and one—No. 294473—matched the top-prize-winning number for that date.

After taxes, the prize is worth considerably less: $342,501 per person instead of $500,000 each. (Then again, that's $342,501 more than each of them had on July 3 ...)

In a statement released Thursday, Lottery officials gave this account of what happened next:

Dupee checked the number the next day on the CT Lottery website.

“I could not believe we won,” he said.

Later, both men brought their ticket to a local lottery retailer. They scanned the little bit of paper in a ticket checker. "I was caught in the headlights when I saw all the zeros,” Dupee said.

Bilyou and Dupee placed the winning ticket in a safe deposit box and  took some time to get financial advice. Earlier this week, the two officially claimed the prize and each received his check.

Cumberland Farms wins $10,000 from the lottery for selling the ticket.

According to the CT Lottery, a "list of all 1,311 winning ticket numbers is available at ctlottery.org.  Super Draw 2 tickets can also be scanned in a lottery Ticket Checker at any lottery retailer location."

Don't wait too long to check your ticket: "Super Draw 2 tickets expire 180 days from their draw date, so players have until December 31, 2011 to claim prizes."

On July 20, weeks after the two men already knew they were the winners, the state lottery issued an announcement that the winning ticket had been bought in Fairfield County and suggested that ticket holders check their numbers: "Did you buy a CT Lottery 'Super Draw 2' ticket for the July 4, 2011 drawing?  If so, you better check your tickets…you could be the game’s $1,000,000 top prize winner!"