‘Miracle Mile’ Yields Another Millionaire Jackpot Winner

FOND DU LAC, Wis. —  So many lottery jackpot winners have purchased their tickets along the “Miracle Mile” that a sign outside of town reads “$150 million won (so far).”

Now it is time to update the sign: Another multimillion-dollar winning ticket has been sold on South Main Street.

Factory worker John Staninecz Jr., who turned in a ticket Thursday worth $6.5 million, is the fourth person since 1990 to buy a jackpot winner along Fond Du Lac’s business district, which has five lottery machines.

“I bought one ticket, one single dollar,” Staninecz said.

The Miracle Mile reputation attracts ticket buyers nationwide. Last July, people came from all 50 states and Canada to buy tickets for a $111-million drawing. The jackpot was won by Leslie Robins, a teacher who lived a short walk from the South Main Street supermarket where he bought his winner.

A $19.6-million ticket was sold April 28, 1990, at a grocery store across the street from that supermarket. And a ticket worth $21 million was sold Aug. 15, 1990, at a convenience store a few blocks away.

“It was our turn,” said Phillip Moses, manager of Ma & Pa’s Grocery & Deli, where Staninecz made his $1 investment Wednesday morning.

“We will be the next. I can guarantee it,” said Tammy Reines, manager of the Kwik Trip convenience store, which has Miracle Mile’s only lottery machine that has not sold a jackpot winner. “Patience. You just got to have patience.”

Lottery officials said they do not suspect foul play, but they refuse to guess the odds of so many big winners being sold within less than a mile of each other.

Staninecz, who has worked for 29 years at a Mercury Marine Inc. outboard engine factory, won the jackpot in Wisconsin’s Megabucks game. The three previous jackpot winners were for the multi-state lottery called Lotto America’s Megabucks.