Holmes Carpentry Teacher Wins $12,500,000 Lotto Jackpot Prize

POUGHQUAG, NY (06/16/2010)(readMedia)-- New York Lottery Draw Team Member Yolanda Vega today awarded a total of $13,500,000 in cash prizes to two Hudson Valley residents representing Holmes, Dutchess County and Yorktown Heights, Westchester County. The presentations took place at the Poughquag Sunoco Mart where the Holmes winner purchased the sole jackpot-winning ticket for the June 5th Lotto drawing worth $12,500,000.

$12,500,000 Lotto Winner Credits Love of Family and Fun for $12,500,000 Lotto Win

The New York Lottery today introduced a 66-year-old carpentry teacher from Holmes, Dutchess County, as the sole winner of the $12,500,000 Lotto jackpot drawn on June 5th. The winner, Michael Clowry, said he owed his new fortune to being in the right place at the right time.

"Sounds funny, but I never would have pulled into that [Sunoco] on that day if I didn't need ice to fill the cooler," said the proud father of four. "As luck would have it, I was only in the area because of my granddaughter's soccer game. I decided to pull in there instead of my usual stop in Holmes because I needed to stock up on ice for a family picnic after the game." While at the Sunoco Mart on Route 55 in Poughquag, Clowry also decided to play his weekly numbers.

"I spend $16 every Sunday on drawings for the coming week," he explained. "That covers my wife, Eileen, and me. I spent $1 for the [June 5th] Lotto drawing and almost gave the ticket back because I thought there was something wrong it, but I kept it and just put it with the others to check later in the week."

Clowry took advantage of the Lottery's advance play option to purchase his ticket for the June 5th Lotto drawing on May 30th. He checked the winning numbers for the June 5th drawing on the Lottery's website early the following morning, but couldn't bring himself to believe what he saw. "I kept thinking I was looking at the wrong drawing, the wrong date, even the wrong website. I was convinced the numbers were wrong," he said. "I never even woke my wife to tell her because I simply did not believe what I was seeing." Clowry and his wife verified their winning numbers at the Lottery's Customer Service Center in Fishkill on Monday, June 7th and claimed the $12,500,000 million prize.

At the time of purchase, Clowry opted to receive his prize as a one-time lump sum payment representing the cash value of the $12,500,000 jackpot. Today, he received his lump sum payment of $7,275,116. His net check will total $4,803,759.

"Retirement is looking more and more like an option for me," said the Lincolndale School District employee. "I really dread my 5 a.m. alarm. I'm looking forward to sleeping in." With retirement in the near future, Clowry's immediate plans for his windfall include establishing college funds for his 15 grandchildren and getting to work on the summer house of his dreams.

Yorktown Heights Plumber Collects $1,000,000 on $500,000,000 Extravaganza Instant Game

"It wasn't the number printed on the ticket so much as the number of the ticket itself." That's how 51-year-old Steele Schussler of Yorktown Heights described how he came to win one of the 84 $1,000,000 prizes available on the Lottery's $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch-off game.

"I looked up at the tickets on display behind the counter and saw this was the 31st ticket on the roll and I knew I had to buy it," said the life-long Westchester County resident. "I always try to buy the 31st ticket on a roll when I see it," he said. "It's just lucky for me."

Schussler, named after his grandfather, scratched his winning ticket in his truck outside the 7-Eleven on Commerce Street in Yorktown Heights where he's a regular. "I scratched the prize – the $1,000,000 – and then I started praying," he said.

Schussler bought his $1,000,000 winner on May 28th and claimed his prize at the Lottery's Fishkill offices the same day. As with most Lottery instant games, the $1,000,000 prize on the $500,000,000 Extravaganza game is paid as $50,000 a year for 20 years. Schussler will receive an annual net check totaling $33,015 through 2029.

He and his wife, Linda, plan to use their windfall to pay down their mortgage and save for retirement. "We won't have to struggle," he said. "It's a nice feeling."

Schussler is the 69th Lottery player to win one of the 84 $1,000,000 prizes available on the $500,000,000 Extravaganza game since it went on sale in 2006. As of this writing, there were also three $2,000,000 cash prizes as well as three $5,000,000 prizes still waiting to be claimed.

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $39.3 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago. The Lottery contributed nearly $2.67 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts.

Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school district's size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

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