NJ Man Wins $1M At Halftime Of NY Jets Game

TINTON FALLS, NJ — A Monmouth County lottery winner erupted into a halftime happy dance, waving a giant $1,000,000 check around MetLife Stadium, after he became a millionaire during the recent New York Jets game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Michael Kozuch, 66, a project manager from Tinton Falls, won the grand prize during the Jets game on Sunday.

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 A. Carey presented the two with their checks.

"Somehow I felt this was destiny," Kozuch said, explaining that he arrived at the stadium in East Rutherford with a feeling he would end his day as a millionaire.

His mother had loved playing Scratch-Offs. "My (late) parents were watching over me," he said.

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, too, shed joyful tears.

Eils has plans to share the money with his wife of 62 years, Audrey, and extended family, including his triplet granddaughters, who watched their grandfather's good fortune from their bleacher seats.

"I had a good feeling," Eils said, with his son-in-law at his side in a MetLife luxury suite.

They share the same birthday, July 11, and hoped 7-11 (which some believe is a lucky numerical combination) would extend their luck to the Lottery promotion.

New Jersey Lottery players who purchased Pick-6 with Double Play tickets from Sept. 8 through Oct. 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 Nov. 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 end zone.

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.

While Kozuch and Eils were escorted off the field, they passed through throngs of fans and MetLife employees admiring their checks and congratulating them as they worked through the crowd.

Kozuch, a project manager for an accounting firm, joked that he may retire sooner than expected. More pressing, he said, was the need to replace his 20-year-old car.

A regular lottery player, Kozuch said the 45 days since he learned he would be a lottery promotional contestant inspired incredible positive energy.

Each day he had something to look forward to and vowed to keep the same outlook regardless of what happened at the game.

"I decided I would bottle that emotion, the passion," Kozuch said. Aside from the feeling he gets spending time with his wife, "I've never really felt anything like this before."