Nassau Woman Has Store Clerk to Thank For Her $1,000,000 Lottery Win

RENSSELAER, NY (06/04/2012)(readMedia)-- Debra OBrien stopped at a Stewart's Shops for a cup of coffee and some scratch-off tickets, and walked out with a The Color of Money Lottery ticket worth $1,000,000. So what was the Nassau resident's lucky strategy? She simply took the advice of the clerk behind the Stewart's counter.

"I went in the store specifically to buy two Cashword Lottery tickets. The clerk behind the counter suggested I buy the last The Color of Money ticket in the bin," explained OBrien. "He said it had been sitting there for a while, so I decided to give it a shot. If it wasn't for him, I would have never considered buying it."

OBrien purchased her winning ticket on April 28 at the Stewart's Shops on Columbia Turnpike in Rensselaer. "I scratched the ticket in my car right there in the parking lot. When I realized I just won $1,000,000, I ran back into the store and asked the clerk for a pen so I could sign the back of the ticket right away," she explained. OBrien claimed her prize on May 15 at the Lottery's Customer Service Center in Schenectady.

The top prize on The Color of Money scratch-off game is paid as $50,000 a year for 20 years. OBrien will receive a net check totaling $33,090 a year through 2031. "I saw the word 'jackpot' and knew immediately I hit the big one." As far as her plans for the money, OBrien said, "I plan to buy a new house and then take my children and grandchildren to Disney."

OBrien is the second Rensselaer County Lottery player to win a Lottery prize of $1,000,000 or more in 2012. Darlene Maselli of Troy claimed her $3,000,000 prize on the Make Me Rich scratch-off game in February of this year.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing nearly $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2011-2012 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery's contribution represents nearly 15 percent of total state education aid to local school districts.

New York 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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