The Prize is Right for $1,000,000 Lottery Winner from LaSalle

Betty Lou Ross of LaSalle, Niagara County, is New York's first top prize winner on the New York Lottery's The Price Is Right instant game. Ross, a retired hairdresser, said she chose the game because the prize was right.

"I really went to the store to buy tickets for the ($181 million) Mega Millions drawing and saw the new game," said Ross who placed second in the 1958 Maid of the Mist Beauty Contest, earning her the title, Miss Congeniality. "I had some luck on the The Price is Right casino game the night before so I decided to buy two tickets. The first didn't make me any richer. The second made me a millionaire."

Ross purchased her winning The Price Is Right instant ticket on April 28, 2009 at the Wilson Farms store at the corner of Plaza Drive and Sawyer Drive in Niagara Falls. She claimed the ticket at the Lottery's Buffalo Customer Service Center on April 30, 2009.

As is the case with most New York Lottery instant game prizes, the $1,000,000 prize on the The Price Is Right instant game is paid as a 20-year annuity. Ross will receive her prize in annual payments of $50,000 a year before required tax withholdings. She will receive an annual net check totaling $33,015 through 2029.

The 70-year-old Ross said winning the Lottery has given her a second wind. "I feel like I can do anything now," said the grandmother of two. When asked about her plans for the money, Ross said her needs were simple. "I already drive a Jaguar. I just want a new bed - queen sized."

In addition to featuring a variety of cash prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000,000, New York's The Price Is Right instant game also gives players with non-winning The Price Is Right tickets an opportunity to enter a web-based The Price Is Right sweepstakes. The online sweepstakes offers players a chance to win one of 24 trips to Las Vegas to participate in a live, stage version of the popular game show where contestants will vie for prizes up to $1,000,000. All who enter the online sweepstakes will be automatically entered into a virtual bonus drawing for a chance to win additional cash and merchandise prizes. Drawings for the virtual bonus prizes will be held monthly. Additional details on the Lottery's The Price Is Right second-chance sweepstakes are available at nylottery.org.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.54 billion in fiscal year 2008-09 to help support education in New York State, over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts. The Lottery's ongoing commitment to education also includes the awarding of more than 1,100 Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Scholarships annually to high school students pursuing their higher education in New York State. Since the program's inception in 1999, the Lottery has awarded more than 10,300 scholarships. The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning over $36.7 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago.

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