A couple who met after they both lost their homes in New York City during superstorm Sandy in 2012 won $255,555 in the Connecticut lottery.
Maryann Daino and Dennis Klaus split their winnings, giving them $127,778 each before taxes after claiming the winnings on April 6, said the Connecticut Lottery. Daino and Klaus both moved the Connecticut from New York after their homes were destroyed in the storm, according to a lottery
statement.
"I handed Dennis the ticket and told him we won," said Daino, who lived in Staten Island before the storm. "He didn't believe me at first; he thought I was kidding him. I said, 'No, Dennis, I'm not kidding. This [prize] is our new home.'"
Daino and Klaus, who lived in Brooklyn, didn't know each other before the storm, but met while both were living in separate temporary mobile homes on the grounds of the Faith Church in New Milford, Connecticut,
according to WCBS-TV. They have been living together as a couple ever since.
"Unreal, we're still pinching ourselves," said Klaus, who added that he and Daino were looking at purchasing a small colonial home in New Milford. "It is a foreclosure and it will require a lot of work on both our parts, but it will be the house of our dreams. We both lost everything, and this is a chance where we can start our life together in a town that has taken us in. It's just phenomenal."
Daino told
WTNH-TV when they found out they won the game, they made sure their financial house was in order before cashing in the ticket.
"I wanted to make sure I didn't owe the IRS any money or Wells Fargo," said Daino. "You have to keep the faith because there is life afterwards and there's a wonderful life waiting."
The Connecticut Lottery said Daino purchased the winning 5 Card Cash ticket in the Oct. 12, 2014, drawing at a gas station.
"Our last few dollars and I just took $2, I got a Quick Pick," said Daino. "This house is going to really complete our healing from what we went through with Hurricane Sandy."
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