Tinton Falls Man Wins Million Dollars In NJ Lottery

TINTON FALLS, NJ — A Tinton Falls man won a million dollars playing the NJ Lottery, and he was announced as the winner at the Nov. 1 New York Jets game against the Las Vegas Raiders, at MetLife stadium.

Michael Kozuch, 66, a project manager from Tinton Falls, won the grand prize. The runner-up, retired forklift operator Ron Eils, 83, of Pompton Plains in Morris County won $100,000.

Fans in the stands applauded and cheered as New Jersey Lottery Executive Director James Carey presented their checks.

“Somehow I felt this was destiny,” Kozuch said. His mother had loved playing Scratch-Offs. “My (late) parents were watching over me.”

Shortly after winning, Kozuch wiped tears from his eyes as he called his wife, Cheryl, at work to share the news. He heard her shout to co-workers that they were winners. She shed tears of joy.

New Jersey Lottery players who purchased Pick-6 with Double Play tickets from September 8 through October 3 had the chance to enter their tickets into four promotional “Another Millionaire” Second-Chance drawings held for VIP Club members.

During the promotion, five contestants were randomly selected each week, totaling 20 winners who received $10,000 each, and VIP packages to attend the November 1 game with a guest who could join them to watch the game.

They mingled during the first half before they received Jets jerseys numbered one through twenty.

During halftime, the contestants, wearing their jerseys, were escorted to the field and lined up in the endzone. Those eliminated received a swag bag and were escorted back to the suite while the remaining competitors moved toward the 50-yard line.

As Kozuch and Eils were the remaining two, the men shook hands wishing each other well before the final announcement arrived. Seconds after learning about their prizes, the men threw their arms up in celebration as Director Carey presented their ceremonial checks.

Kozuch is a regular NJ Lottery player. He works as a project manager for an accounting firm and said he may sooner than expected. More pressing, he said, was the need to replace his 20-year-old car.