By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

On June 18, Tops Friendly Market presented a $25,000 check to Cazenovia resident Sharon Driscoll, a lucky winner in the 2019 Tops Monopoly Rip It and Win It game.

She is the seventh player to win one of the game’s 10 guaranteed car prizes, valued at $25,000. Rather than accept the brand new car, Driscoll decided to take home the cash.

The lucky customer was awarded her prize during an afternoon ceremony at her local Tops at 71 Nelson St., Cazenovia.

The celebration included a group of her friends and family, several Tops staff members, cake and balloons.

From the moment she opened the game piece and even right up to the presentation, Driscoll was amazed at her good fortune.

“At first, I opened the little ticket and went ‘yeah right,’” she said. “You [usually] just get 25 cents off for pickles or something . . . When I read it, I just didn’t believe it. I’m still not sure I believe it.”

Driscoll received her instant win ticket while shopping at the Cazenovia store. After realizing she had won, she simply filled out a form and submitted a photo of her license.

She estimates that she will lose about $5,500 of her prize to federal and state taxes.

“You’re still getting [about] $20,000 that you didn’t have to work for,” she said. “I think that’s worth it.”

The other winners of the new car prize are scattered across New York State — in Oneida, Syracuse, Watertown, Niagara Falls and two in Buffalo.

Additional prizes include $10,000 cash rewards, Tops GasPoints, gift cards, coupons and more.

The game, which is in its tenth year, began March 17. So far, over 515,000 shoppers have won in-store instant win ticket prizes and over 22,000 have won playing online.