CLEVELAND…. Leonard Woronischtsche got a call from his job on Monday morning informing him that he was being laid off effective immediately.  Shortly there after he received a call from the Ohio Lottery, unbeknownst to him he would be receiving $100,000 very soon.

He had canceled his annual Memorial Day cook-out with his family; he had already begun to look for a new job.  The summer of 2008 had not begun well for Leonard.

The promotions manager at the Ohio Lottery, Allison C. Turner called and asked Leonard if he would mind participating in a quick interview since he was a finalist in the upcoming T.P.D. drawing.  He replied “Sure I don’t have to go to work I might as well”.

WKYC and WEWS were playing along with staged interview at the Lottery’s regional office in Cleveland on Friday May 23rd.  When it looked like the interview was over the Allison reached behind a cabinet a pulled out the over-sized check that prominently displaying Leonard’s name and the amount of $100,000.

A note about how TPD works: Ohio Lottery instant tickets of $5 or more have the TPD feature. If the winning combination on an instant ticket lists “TPD” as the prize, the winner receives an instant cash prize and automatic entry into a drawing for the top prize offered in that game. The drawing comes after the close of the game, which sometimes means that the ticket was purchased a year or so before the drawing actually occurs. Woronischtsche purchased his $5 Super Instant Monopoly ticket in July of 2007, at which time he won an instant $1,000 prize. When he made that claim, he was automatically entered into the drawing for the $100,000 top prize.

Leonard, in shock and speechless, reached forward and gave Allison a warm heartfelt hug.  He then said “the cook-out is back on and I am going to Giant Eagle right now to buy steaks for everyone!”